A Historic Health-Care Moment

Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has already signaled his skepticism.

How many times have Republicans mocked those 15 words, spoken in 2010 by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Congress was moving to pass the Affordable Care Act. If Republicans can’t pass a bill on their own, they may be forced to compromise with Democrats and keep more of the features of Obamacare. “But, at the same time, we had a very a strong vote both out of the Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has all of the different factions of our conference”, he said. Those kind of common sense ideas that we have agreement on.

Republican Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Cory Gardner (Colorado), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday voicing their concerns. He asks “my colleagues to refrain from final judgments” and suggests that they’ll have a chance to amend it.

The charm offensive continued on Wednesday, Politico reported, when Trump met with a group of conservative activists, all of whom had all criticized Ryan’s bill, to sell them on the bill.

“This is decision-making without the facts, without the evidence”, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters, according to Reuters. “The law is collapsing around us, and if we do not act to save Americans from this wreckage, it will take our healthcare system all the way down with it”. “There’s going to be no slowing down, there’s going to be no waiting and no more excuses by anybody”. Conversely, people who are younger, higher-income, or live in low-premium areas (like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Washington) may receive larger assistance under the replacement plan. Too many healthy people are not signing up for coverage through the exchanges, leaving the risk pool too rich in unhealthy, high-cost policyholders. That may raise premium costs, particularly for older individuals.

“The Republican health plan would make America’s economic chasm worse”.

The bill exists in two parts, which you can read in full here and here.

Insurers would still be banned from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions, although the protection would come with a major difference from Obamacare. Dr. Madara also noted that the proposed changes in tax credits and subsidies to help patients purchase private health insurance coverage are expected to result in fewer Americans with insurance coverage.

Penalizing people who don’t buy health insurance has been one of the things Republicans hate most about Obamacare. Additionally, the legislation blocks federal payment for one year to Planned Parenthood.