BREAKING NEWS! Obamacare
repeal fails AGAIN in the Senate in 49-51 vote!
About an hour after the
vote was announced, President Donald Trump, tweeted, "3 Republicans and 48
Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let
ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"
Health and Human
Services Secretary Tom Price said in a statement the Trump administration will
pursue its health care goals through regulation. "This effort will
continue," he said.
Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., was among the Republicans who voted 'no.' There were gasps and
applause from the Senate floor when McCain voted. The other Republicans who
voted 'no' were Rep. Susan Collins of Maine and Rep. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
In a statement released
following the vote, McCain said, "From the beginning, I have believed that
Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases
competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people. The so-called
‘skinny repeal’ amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those
goals."
McCain added,
"While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most
burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health
care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens."
McCain offered a plan
going forward, saying, "We must now return to the correct way of
legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input
from both sides of aisle, heed the recommendations of nation’s governors, and
produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American
people. We must do the hard work our citizens expect of us and deserve.”
"We tried really
hard,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor
following the vote. "A disappointment indeed ... I regret that our efforts
were simply not enough this time.”
He said he imagines
Democrats are celebrating, but "American people are hurting and need
relief." He then blamed Democrats for not engaging with Republicans to
help people “suffering under Obamacare.” He added, "Now I think it’s
appropriate to ask what are their ideas. It’ll be interesting to see what they
suggest as the way forward."
“Bailing out insurance
companies with no thought of any kind of reform is not something I want to be
part of and I suspect that not many folks over here that are interested in
that,” McConnell said, drawing the line on the potential bipartisan road ahead.
“But it’ll be interesting to see what they have in mind.”
“I regret that we’re
here, but I’m proud of the vote I cast tonight,” McConnell said. "It’s
consistent with what we told the American people we’d try to accomplish in four
straight elections if they gave us a chance." He then ended his speech
admitting it’s "time to move on."
He asked for unanimous
consent for the Senate to meet at 10 a.m. on Friday and to proceed to HR 2810,
the National Defense Authorization Bill. There was an objection.
Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer then took the mic and expressed his relief.
"I would suggest
we turn the page," Schumer said. “We are not celebrating. We are relieved
that millions and millions of people who would have been so drastically
hurt…will at least retain their health care.”
He added, “We are
relieved, not for ourselves, but for the American people."
The vote came amidst
the Senate's days-long debate in which it struggled to pass any option for
repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act. Two earlier attempts - one to
pass a repeal-and-replace option, and another on a repeal-only measure - both
failed Wednesday.
The bill that did not
pass during the early hours of Friday morning is dubbed "skinny"
repeal because of its limited scope. The text of the pared down bill, released
just hours before the vote, revealed that it would scrap the individual mandate
for insurance coverage, repeal the employer mandate for at least eight years
and allow individuals to put more money in tax-exempt health savings accounts.
The bill also suspends
a tax on medical devices and allows states to seek waivers from consumer
protections in the Affordable Care Act.
An estimate from the
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed that skinny repeal alone would
leave 16 million more people uninsured than the current law over the next
decade, and would raise premiums for some consumers by 20 percent.
At least four
Republican senators had threatened to block the so-called skinny repeal
proposal unless they have assurances from House Speaker Paul Ryan that it is
only a placeholder and would not be passed in the House and sent to the
president’s desk. They, and others, want this to serve a vehicle for the next
step of negotiations between the House and the Senate.
"The skinny bill
as policy is a disaster. The skinny bill as a replacement for Obamacare is a
fraud," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. He said he could support the
bill, but warned of the dire consequences if it was allowed to become law.
Graham said he has had
conversations with Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., in which
Meadows has warned him that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has apparently
been telling "some" people that the House will just take up the
skinny repeal and pass it and put it on the president's desk.
"I need assurances
that it will not be the final product," Sen. Graham went on during a press
conference Thursday. Graham said he worried about rumors that House Majority
Whip Steve Scalise, who has been recovering from a gunshot wound but was
released from the hospital this week, was considering bringing the narrow
repeal bill up for a vote as is.
Amid the negotiations
Thursday evening, House Speaker Paul Ryan opened the door for the Senate
proposal to be considered in a conference committee with House lawmakers,
giving the Senate efforts a much-needed boost.
"It is now obvious
that the only path ahead is for the Senate to pass the narrow legislation that
it is currently considering,” Ryan’s statement read. “Senators have made clear
that this is an effort to keep the process alive, not to make law. If moving
forward requires a conference committee, that is something the House is willing
to do."
As the possibility of
the Senate passing a partial repeal bill loomed Thursday, several patient,
hospital and insurance groups put out statements arguing that scrapping even
just the mandate that individuals buy insurance could have real consequences
for health care marketplaces.
Blue Cross wrote in
statement: “A system that allows people to purchase coverage only when they
need it drives up costs for everyone.”
America's Health
Insurance Plans CEO Marilyn B. Tavenner echoed their concern, writing in a
statement: “We would oppose an approach that eliminates the individual coverage
requirement, does not offer alternative continuous coverage solutions, and does
not include measures to immediately stabilize the individual market.”
The AARP called it a
“wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Citing a recent report from the Congressional
Budget Office that predicted repealing even just the individual mandate could
lead to 15 million more Americans uninsured in the next decade a 20 percent
premium increase for folks buying their own insurance.
This increase in
premium costs could lead to some people's being priced out of plans, or the
federal government may aid those people through subsidies and tax credits.
The individual mandate
provides social cost savers as well. If people don't have insurance and get
sick, hospitals, taxpayers and local governments end up covering the costs.
"In the absence of a mandate, those social costs would probably increase
relative to the case under current law," the CBO said in a report last
December.
Sen. Ron Johnson,
R-Wis., indicated he would vote for a bare-bones package as long as it kept the
process moving forward. "We'll keep the process going. If we've got to do
something less than obviously I'd want to keep the process going, we'll do
it," he said.
Hopefully not, Just fix
the ACA and let it be!
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