Sen. Thune Begins Work On Health Care Bill

Last week’s House action, celebrated by President Trump and House Republicans in the White House Rose Garden, was a first step toward its repeal.

“The public wants every dime you can give them”.

Congressman Meadows has met with the Senate steering committee to negotiate a grand bargain on health care reform. Legislatures trying to answer it could get ugly. States would receive a fixed amount of money from the federal government for each beneficiary, rather than an amount that varies according to the numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries and their health care needs. Currently, 32 states, including D.C., have expanded Medicaid eligibility criteria because of Obamacare.

Medicaid has always been in conservatives’ crosshairs, but the benefit for states has been undeniable.

It would drastically cut federal subsidies for people who get their insurance through the marketplaces Obamacare set up.

Lacking that – and cooperation still could happen if no Republican health care bill can be passed by both house of Congress and signed by Trump – the best option is for the Senate to forget any artificial deadlines and take its usual glacial time to create a health care bill that is an improvement over the House bill.

Hutchinson maintains they can be covered by federally subsidized non-Medicaid plans, but others worry many who now have health coverage will go uncovered in the future and will again rely instead on hospital emergency rooms for urgent care.

Democratic- and Republican-controlled states seem split on what to do about it.

He later added of Republican senators, “I think for one, they’re taking a look at the House bill and they’re seeing where they can fix it and improve and so I’m not sure how much the President’s statements are impacting that process”.

State Medicaid data also show that OH schools would lose about $8 million a year in Medicaid funding for special education services under the House bill. “I proposed and gained a $90 billion increase in the health care tax credits for Americans in the 50-64 age group and secured an additional $15 billion to help young mothers and those struggling with mental and substance abuse disorders”.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to redraft significant portions of the bill to meet the chamber’s procedural rules.

For the 93 percent of people who get insurance through employers or the government, coverage likely won’t change. They have cited financial losses and political uncertainty – specifically the unsure future of the AHCA and the possibility that key payments from the Trump administration could be cut off – as reasons for their exits.

There are 19, mostly Republican states that inoculated themselves from whatever Washington does to Medicaid by choosing not to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.

They might also point out that the Republican’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will invariably affect women.

Interestingly, the White House has asked that the current bill not be called “Trumpcare,” although the president himself has been silent on the matter.

Look at ME, which implemented a successful invisible risk-sharing program that protected people with pre-existing conditions much better than Obamacare. “I think Wisconsinites would be very upset if there’s a change that leaves that population vulnerable”, he said. The bill 1) mandates – with no exceptions – that insurers sell plans to people with pre-existing conditions. The plan allows states to apply for waivers from the federal government that gets them out of numerous regulations put in place under the Affordable Care Act – including one that bans insurance companies from charging people with pre-existing conditions more for a health plan. “We’re going to draft our bill, and I’m convinced we will take the time to do it right”, she said.

Recounting his own personal experiences with the health care system, MacArthur said repairing the broken system has always been about people, not policies.