Yay!
When Obamacare falls like a Imperial Walker the citizens of Maine will realize the extent of Collins' disservice.
Trump trump takes the Senate down again, making the GOP and our country the laughing stock of the WORLD! (Had to put the Trump trademark exclamation point in.)
2
I happened to catch CNN's debate featuring Cassidy Monday night. How he, a physician, couid look a 10-year-old leukemia patient and her father in the eye and defend his bill's position on preexisting conditions was outrageous. Of course, all he offered was doublespeak and vagueness because he knows full well that she, under the system the GOP so desperately wants to enact, would either be denied coverage entirely or forced into high risk pools where she wouid most likely pay exorbitant prices for junk coverage. There is no sugarcoating that hard truth. Cassidy also knows full well what this child will most likely go through healthwise for the rest of her life, which makes his authorship of this plan even more galling.
As usual: profits and the industry first, people second. And I'd like to remind everyone that a preexisting condition will be something that most of us will have to deal with at some point, as we grow older and our lives evolve. A job change or a forced insurer change for those with cancer, heart disease, debilitating conditions, etc. (no matter how well managed medically) can be a game change. A fair, humane, and equitable ACA replacement must take that into consideration.
It's time that the GOP stops acting as if it has all the answers on this issue. It clearly doesn't. It's time to seek a bipartisan compromise, or just leave it alone entirely. People's lives are at stake.
6
Americans are ridiculous and stupid. In other countries people are rioting in the streets over the prospect of working more than 35 hours per week. Here we're fighting to be FORCED under penalty of fine to pay for skyrocketing ripoff scam insurance to enrich CEOS and shareholders. As a leftist I can't muster even the slightest bit of energy for saving Obamacare. I couldn't care less. The little bit of good it does as been far exaggerated. Many of the people who are forced to make a contribution to this broken for profit system just don't have the money. I'd rather go back to what we had before.
They'll never stop trying to repeal Obamacare. This new mutant version Republican lies like a rug, can't admit a mistake, and cares nothing for their constituency unless they are useful for donations and if they are dumb enough to be tricked. The ONLY thing they care about is self-preservation, at all costs. Oh, and getting as much money as they can from just about anyone stupid enough to give it to them.
2
I love the internet. The words will come back to haunt you. This doozy from the campaign:
Feb 9 2016
"We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare - and nobody can do that like me. We will save $'s and have much better healthcare!"
His supporters are probably running out of excuses. Spin baby, spin!
5
Instead of doing the people's business, the Republicans have wasted a lot of time on this stupid and cruel effort to repeal and " replace" the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). I guess the definition of Insanity would fit here (Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result). Since most of the Republican Senators do not represent the American people on this topic (and possible others) perhaps they should be impeached.
2
A bunch of old white men locked in an office does not legitimate legislation make. And certainly they do not represent all of America but that is what they expect all of us to accept? Insanity!
1
Bill Cassidy, M.D.? What do the initials stand for? Master of Death?
9
This bill is not dead!!! Rand Paul will be a yes and we have not heard from Murkowski.
Americans will die. Thousands. They will die needlessly. As Obama's attempts at harnessing an equitable sharing of good fortune with misfortune are now being brazenly and cruelly dismantled, I say unequivalently to McConnell and Cassidy “shame on you! You are a more than willing instruments of such heartless uncaring disregard for the well being of millions. Shame. Shame.”
3
Collins and McCain are the only GOP senators who have organs lacking in their Republican colleagues: A brain and a heart. And Trump, who knows nothing of the details of this horrendous bill but insists on its passage simply to eradicate another Obama accomplishment, also qualifies as brainless and heartless.
2
Trump said that his healthcare plan would cover every American, would be better than Obamacare, would cost less, and, if I recall correctly, would be tremendous. But Donald J. Trump is a liar. His Republican enablers' didn't do him any favors with their proposed healthcare plans. Seven years of "repeal and replace" has come to this situation. So sad. Nambia has a better healthcare system than the USA and there's no income taxes there.
2
I sure hope this pathetic "legislation" fails. Have made 30 calls to Republican Senators so far and defending basic human rights in the USA is becoming a full-time job for ordinary citizens in addition to their employment and other obligations because they are leaderless.
Approximately 50 percent of the Senators hired to serve the public are currently mercenary parasites. Extremely outrageous and disconcerting.
4
Sitting atop a mountain of lies the GOP cannot even put it's pants on. The totally racist flame-fanning chief "executive" thinks race-baiting can help take the heat off evidently, but it won't. Health care is too personal an issue for every American to ignore. So unless they join the zombie army on their knees to The Great Leader (of what?) the American people are getting what they apparently voted for- tough noogies. And (what a laugh) the idea that anyone who brought us to this precipice will be held accountable is sheer fantasy. GOP "lawmakers" has become an oxymoron.
What a charade!
GOP Senators 'pretending' to repeal and replace Obamacare!
Mitch and his minions are just going through the motions so they can tell voters they tried to change our healthcare laws.
2018 elections should be fun to watch as the GOP scrambles to devise a narrative where they are leaders rather than just con artists!
How Sad!
Appears dead but still very much alive. Murkowski can still be bribed by some sweeteners for Alaska, Paul can be flipped, both still highly possible.
Pence is poised and ready to slam dunk and break the tie.
Rand Paul will change his vote to yes at the last minute and be a senate christ. That is a savior.
Ever notice how Ted Cruz is usually on both sides of every subject?
1
This picture of Dr. Cassidy is begging for captions.
"Oh no, I'm cooked now. Without donations from Koch bros. I'm done!"
Now if he could have only shown some of this empathy for the citizens of this country. You know, constituents, sick people. You might have to go back to your old job. What was that?
3
You know what is COMPLETELY missing from the health care discussion? The ginormous salaries the health care executives and their VP underlings receive while they cry poor, raise premiums on us, and tell us that they "can't afford" to stay in the market place and even offer their overpriced insurance products. Pul-eeze! Here is what one 10-second search on a randomly-chosen insurer, Unitedhealthcare, produced: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170421/NEWS/170429946
Unbelievable!!
3
Thank you Senator Collins!!
Thank you Ms.Collins. You are a true hero. LOL. That is the sound of me laughing in your face creep show Lindsay Graham, Rick Santorum, senator Cassidy and Paul Ryan.
1
Thank you, Senator Collins. Now, can we please stop using people's health care as a foil for tax breaks and money making? What is wrong with this country that cannot comprehend the need for viable health care for all. I guess all of the other nations who have reasonable approaches are just either less stupid or more human in their approach to this critical social issue. Or, is the GOP just aiming to cannibalize every aspect of this country under the name of business and self-serving greed -- US of GOP America!
2
Trumpy's last tweet about how swell this bill is was among his funniest. He never read it, his advisors never read it and probably none of the GOP senators even read a synopsis.. All they needed to know was that every major medical group in the country and the insurance industry opposed it so reading would not be required. Only blind and particularly stupid loyalty was required . And last ditch shots at bribing the two "gals" (apparent outsiders) didn't work either? That's what you get for letting them through the door!
1
A lot of us don't want the government dictating our health care. Unbelievably, there was Healthcare prior to the enactment of the "Affordable" Care Act.
Republicans were elected to Repeal Obamacare -- the largest government power grab ever. They have failed to deliver! The Democratic Party sold its soule to the Devil long ago. Spineless Republicans have given us the state of affairs that we have today!
When voting begins for the next election, the people need to unite and unseat every single Republican who voted to destroy the protections that Obamacare provides.
While Obamacare absolutely has its problems, attempting to trash it, without a compassionate replacement, demonstrates how heartless and dangerous the Republican party has become.
Use the power of your vote to get them out!!
1
Money is now influencing all legislation to degrees never before seen and at dangerous implications to out democracy. Who ARE these people in Congress and how did they get elected in the first place? Time to clean house next November!!!
2
Shame on Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst for NOT rejecting the Trumpcare mess and thanks to Susan Collins, John McCain and Jimmy Kimmel for saving some healthcare for people.
"Mr. Cruz said ... he wanted to ultimately wind up in favor of the bill."
Yeah, and I kind of want to wind up opposed to the bill.
1
So-called president trump's reassuring words still ring in my ears ... "Obamacare is an utter disaster folks. I will repeal it entirely and replace it with something much much better, believe me ... and very quickly". Ringing ringing ringing ... like an unanswered telephone. Now it's a death knell ... for the collapse of McConnell's most dogged and beleaguered filibustering camn in US history declaring that all Obama legislation should be blocked regardless of merit.
1
any one who votes to strip millions of health care is Evil.
1
So, viewing people in wheel chairs being carted away at the orders of Orin Hatch should be enough for all Americans to realize that the Republicans not only lack empathy, compassion and human values, they also lack intelligience of the mature emotional kind, usually referred to as wisdom. What were these people trying to do? Serve their masters? One more reason for why they are racists, too. They believe in the dynamic of being bought.
2
For years Republicans have wasted our time & money attempting to derail Obamacare. The Right did this not only for their top 2% - but because of their hate for President Obama. Term limits are the only answer to rid ourselves of these hate mongers in Congress.
Its time to take a knee until Congress passes Medicare for all.
The republicans are reprehensible, the rest of 48 senators should also vote NO!
Call Hillary Clinton, I know that she could solve the Health Care Crisis with legislation that the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress could all live with and move the ACA forward in a manner that would benefit all Americans.
Thank you John McCain, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, and please Lisa Murkowski, step up and do the right thing by voting No.
Let the women in Congress fix the ACA, get the men out of the way.
"... they now have three firm opponents within their ranks: Rand Paul of Kentucky, John McCain of Arizona and Ms. Collins."
Uh, Rand Paul is not to be trusted. Need Murkowski to stand up and pay back McConnell one more time for supporting her opponent in GOP primary.
Thank you Sen, John McCain, Sen.Susan Collins, Sen. Rand Paul and even Sen. Ted Cruz. Thank you for protecting the people although your reasons are varied. Now will the Republicans get the message that Obamacare, although not perfect, is saving lives and should not be repealed? When will you STOP trying? Instead why don't you get with the Democrats and make Obamacare even better. Forget about your election promise. That was just rhetoric. Why don't you get to work and pass legislation? There are so many issues which need urgent attention. Don't beat a dead horse over and over.
Rand Paul's vote is not secure. Keep calling Murkowski. They are bribing her.
This has seemed a no-brainer from the beginning. JGAIA
The bill is a terrible piece of legislation for 98% of Americans, but it's a great bill to put huge sums of cash in the pockets of the top 2%. Is it any wonder they can't get the votes?
1
This is a deep personal failure and defeat for President Trump. He claimed on the campaign trail to have a health plan that would provide great care for ALL Americans at a lower cost. He lied.
Graham-Cassidy is "sausage-making" at it's best (or worst). Attempting to pass legislation through threats, intimidation, cajoling, and bribery. To paraphrase LBJ, "do you want it with the bark on, or the bark off." We're seeing it with the bark off; our democracy at work.
Not very pretty, is it?
Thank you Susan Collins, John McCain, and (despite my deep disagreements with him about many issues) Rand Paul!
Thank you for protecting vulnerable Americans!
1
I would say to the GOP guys who tried to deliver to their donors: Don't worry, you'll still get your money. Its what they do, those rich donors, they want their tax and regulation cuts, and a few just want their racism. If not at the expense of health care for 20 or 30 million people then find something else. OR, maybe you GOP guys could work with Dems over the next 6-8 months and really give us an ACA 2.0. Then everyone would vote for you!
This is what happens when too many people vote for cultural payback instead of bread-and-butter issues. Republicans started running on "Repeal Obamacare!" before most people even knew what "Obamacare" was. I suspect this crop of senators got elected or re-elected more for their culture wars posturing than their promise to take away people's health insurance or replace it with something unaffordable with pre-existing condition exclusions. It was more important to these Republican voters that Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, Muslims and Planned Parenthood got their comeuppance and conservative Christian bakers got to deny gay couples their wedding cakes than whether they and their children got medical care without going bankrupt.
Would you please publish the names of every politician that voted for taking health care away from millions of Americans. It is important to me, as a cancer survivor, to know who believes my life has no value and that I am not entitled to healthcare.
If something is not working right then fix it do not try to destroy it. We are talking about the lives of real people
The luckiest people are those who are old enough to already have Medicare. And throw in some private supplemental and avoid most doctor co-pays. The GOP cannot be trusted anymore.
3
Thank you Susan Collins and John McCain for refusing to support a bill that would harm millions of Americans.
Thank you to the Republican governors who have made their displeasure with the bill loud and clear.
Thank you to John Roberts who with his one swing vote upheld the ACA not once but twice against Supreme Court challenges.
Thank you to Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors for their classy, dignified response to Trump's attacks.
Thank you to the NFL (owners and players) who linked arms or kneeled as a sign that they would not be bullied by this president. Many of them (including Tom Brady and the Pats management and ownership) self-identify as Republicans. But they chose team over mean tweets.
Really, thank you to so many people who are standing their ground against the most divisive, racist, inappropriate, demeaning leader this nation has ever had.
2
Still waiting for Trump's "beautiful health care" plan that covers everybody for less cost. Perhaps it's in the same filing cabinet as Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam war ?
2
The first "inalienable" right listed by the Founders in the Declaration of Independence is the right to life itself. Those who vote those who would vote to kill health care aren't much in the way of Americans.
2
My deepest respect for the 3 giants.
1
I have learned not to underestimate the determination of Republicans in their pursuit of extremism and destruction of our democracy, provided it's good for their party. I believe they will eventually repeal Obamacare while they control all branches of government.
2
It should be evident by now that the GOP repeal and replace has nothing to do with health care for Americans, it's all about erasing the Obama legacy.
4
The NYTimes, and other media outlets, do us a disservice by perpetuating the outright lie from Republicans that it's this bill, at this time, or nothing.
There is absolutely NOTHING stopping the GOP from sending a bill through regular process, where the framework of a bill is considered at least semi-thoughtfully by the relevant committees, where meetings are held to discuss how to improve a bill, where amendments are allowed to try to craft something that's actually good for America, and which is ultimately a slow, messy, but effective process. The only 'deadline' for getting something done is 100% self-imposed in an effort to ratchet up pressure on their colleagues.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that many in the GOP is simply lazy.. unwilling to do the hard work that is required in this wonderful, messy system that the founders of our country designed with purpose.
1
We keep saying that three Republican Senators saved the ACA.
But it is worthwhile remembering that Rand Paul's vote against this Graham-Cassidy version is because it does not go far enough to repeal the ACA.
1
Aren't Senators Collins and McCain fronting for a fairly numerous set of other Republican Senators who know beyond the least doubt that the formal ideology of their party on health care insurance is a disaster and a complete fraud? That's close to what I heard yesterday from a very respected medical professional and a personal friend, right here in the soul of Red Kansas.
2
I don't think we can count on Rand Paul to vote no. He voted yes for the last iteration of the health care repeal bill. Ted Cruz will vote for it in the end, since it would be the most expedient political decision for him. Unfortunately, that is his bottom line.
Where does Senator Lisa Murkowski stand on this? It is her vote that might really count.
The ACA passed on a pure partisan vote - no GOP support. But at least the Dems held public meetings and worked for a long, long time to put it together. It’s still flawed, but is the best blueprint Congress has to work with.
The GOP bills - too many to count - have been secretive and rushed, with no attempt at bipartisan support. Healthcare is simply too important to make it a rush job to fulfill a campaign pledge. That the GOP had seven years to figure it out, and still failed, speaks volumes. They could have and should have had something ready in January.
There is no point in filling what was an empty campaign promise, especially with the harm this bill would create. If the GOP suffers, as the Dems certainly did post-ACA - they can only blame themselves.
I'm a Democrat. But I would vote for Susan Collins as President. The President should care about people and doing the right thing. She is guided by a moral compass that is properly aligned. That compass creates courage.
And John McCain's 60 minute interview showed that he would be another potentially good choice.
1
We are not demanding enough of our government on this issue. Anything less than universal health coverage for all citizens is an insult to us all. Let's demand the suspension of coverage for senators and congressmen until we are all covered just as they are.
1
I'd feel a little more relaxed if Murkowski or someone else more reliable than Rand Paul was declaring a 'no' vote.
Senator Collins' written statement as to why she would vote against the measure is commendable. For two reasons; 1. It is clear that she read and understands what is wrong with the bill, and 2. She stated her reasons in "writing".
I wonder how many, if any, Republican Senators actually read and understand what is in the bill. Particularly those that would vote for it.
Maine should be quite proud of their Senator.
1
On one hand, health care inflation since around 2007 has been some of the lowest in 50 years.
On the other hand, insurance rates are going way up.
If health care costs are not going up, what is going on?
I am self-employed and pay Blue Cross. In 2010, I paid $200 per month with a max out of pocket of $2,500. In 2017, I pay $900 per month with a max out of pocket of $6,900.
I am healthy, no pre-existing condition, rarely use my coverage, pay significant co-pays when I do use it.
The arithmetic doesn't make sense.
450% increase over 8 years! There is nothing that can justify this.
I know people want to blame Obama care but, really, the cost of health care is hardly going up.
1
Senators McCain and Collins have stated specific opposition to this bill, but until Senator Murkowski is also a firm "no" vote, Graham-Cassidy still has a chance of passing.
Remember, Senator Paul (not in favor of G-C as currently constituted) was also against "skinny repeal", but then flipped to "yes" when it was time to actually vote.
Not to mention that jingling sound you hear, the noise made by all that campaign coin that will be freed up for the current GOP senators if they get this legislation across the finish line. That noise is sweet music, and very hard to drown out, though thousands of Americans are trying to do just that with their phone calls, emails, and protests.
To borrow a phrase, there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. G-C is NOT "all dead" yet. Until it is, keep calling your senators.
So, so many of us remember that ACA was a response - a highly negotiated response - to the failure of high risk pool and depriving access to care for those w/ pre-existing conditions, as well as the brutal failure of annual and lifetime caps on poor and middle class households, decimating savings and depriving not just households but local economies of investment and circulating dollars.
I don't care what we call federal rules regarding health care, but it is deeply immoral to exclude those most in need from what they need most.
We will simply not go back to a time when those who are actually ill or have been ill are priced out of access to the very care that they need.
Who is driving the hatefulness of high risk pools and lack of coverage for pervasive health care needs like OB/gyn coverage, birth control, preventative medicine, and support for chronic disease? Is there any human need that Americans will prioritize over the market?
Good. We need medicare for all or single payer.
Yes, taxes should pay for healthcare. While we're at it, let's reduce the military budget, close tax loopholes, and tax the 1% appropriately.
1
The repeated failure of Republicans and other conservatives to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act gives enormous credence to the fact that the popular vote count in the 2016 presidential election, won by Hillary by over 3 million votes, is not meaningless.
Would it not be wonderful if instead of creating damage to millions of people if the two branches of Congress did this, today: Sends planes into Puerto Rico--one after the other--to airlift people out. And then bring them to a place like Miami Beach (where I live) with its zillions of high-rise hotels and put these citizens of our country up for the next few weeks. Hey, there aren't many tourists right now anyway. Would that not be a generous thing to do instead of finding as many ways they can to do damage to millions of people who, without Obamacare, would be "in harm's way."
One wonders where this nation would be right now had the Republican party nominated Susan Collins for the presidency.
Of course that was "impossible."
Ironically the one's who reap the rewards off a "Health Bill" driven tax cut, are the one's contributing the most to America's health epidemics...obesity, increased cases of cancer, (fast food companies, pesticide and chemical companies, and those rewarded for making inferior products to improve profit lines), lack of affordable medicine (pharma companies have some of the highest paid CEOs in the country/on the planet), mental health (reaching a crisis point as companies refuse to pay people a living wage increasing everyone's stress exponentially)....the direct (not even dotted line) correlation here is astounding.
Republicans do not serve the priorities of American citizens - they solely service the rich.
1
I just watched a YouTube of the healthcare debate between Sanders/Klobuchar and Graham/Cassidy. It highlighted something I was confidence of for a long time. Democrats and Republicans are fighting for two completely different things.
For Democrats this is all about healthcare as right of citizenship and ensuring that people not only have access to healthcare, but can actually receive healthcare. They firmly believe that as the wealthiest country in the world we can afford to provide healthcare to all citizens.
Republicans are fighting for something completely different. It has nothing whatsoever to do with healthcare. "Healthcare" as embodied in the ACA is simply a banner to fight under. Their battle is ideological. It is about their adherence to the Reagan shibboleth that 'government isn't the solution, government IS the problem.' So, federal government anything is evil, must be denounced and destroyed. If it strips access to healthcare from millions of people that is a small price to pay for remaining true to conservative principles. It is why only two Republicans have enough of a soul left vote against a bill that they know will kill Americans.
And isn't Cassidy an MD? Don't MDs take an oath to "Do No Harm"?
How can he justify taking away health insurance from millions of people - and thereby making the cost so high they can no longer afford it. Possibly dooming many to death.
How is this not "Doing Harm"?
He should lose his Medical License as well as his next election.
We owe Susan Collins, a very thoughtful senator from Maine a debt of gratitude. The same it true of John McCain and previously Lisa Murkowski. I do not know we can say the same for Rand Paul in that his motivations come from a different place, though his no vote is welcome. It is astonishing that almost all GOP senators are otherwise onboard with throwing a monkey wrench into the gears of the U.S. healthcare system based on demands of their wealthy donors, and a vortex of lies, that would result in extreme dysfunction and great detriment to tens of millions of Americans. It is nearly beyond comprehension. It is hard to think of it as other than a mass mental illness of some sort that has overtaken them.
How many times do you have to bang your head against the wall before you decide to try a new approach?
The President, House Speaker, Senate leader, have "DEMONIZED" America's Health Care Act continuously for the past eight years and have accomplished the greatest legislative failure in the history of America due to a lack of planning and execution on it's replacement!
Now is the time to fis what is law for the benefit of all American's and their families.
We elected these office holders to better America not rip it apart and create more of a mess than previously existed.
Do the job you were elected to do....Fix the health care problems...for the improvement and benefit of all American"s, period!
W
3
Thanks, Senator Collins.
Senator Murkowski, where are you?
22
I can't even imagine the pressure she must be under from the swamp creatures.
Brava !!
21
Let's all please stop calling it "Obamacare"; that name was created by the GOP to attach a divisive label to ACA.
And don't you wish we could vote to take away healthcare benefits from congress until they FIX the ACA?
25
I believe that President Obama decided to accept the informal name of the ACA which was a big first step although not a perfect one towards helping people to access health care which actually provided benefits not just an illusion people were covered. Changing the name which was originally an insult would not be nearly so effective as changing the attitudes of those who now see the benefits of the provisions of the ACA. Eventually Obamacare will be said with pride --even by those who opposed it with so many lies.
1
Technically it is RomneyCare.
2
There should be a law against bettaying the country and it's people for personal gain.
Republicans call that an unnecessary regulation.
10
I am very grateful to the Republicans who chose people over party. I am also grateful to the citizenry who went to Washington, DC to protest and make their concerns known. Why are there so few moderate republicans left? Who are these so called public servants with their merciless agenda and who do they think they represent? I remain befuddled by this.
23
I am grateful, too, Ms. Collins. However, think about it. This is how OUR elected lawmakers should be acting every minute of every day. OUR United States Constitution does not say "take care of the Robber Barons and to hell with the peons".
OUR elected lawmakers swore to uphold OUR constitution and if they don't do that they are nothing but common criminals out to rob the rest of us.
14
This isn't over for the Republicans, they need to kill Obamacare so they can send the savings over to their corporate sponsors. Their proposals will rise from the grave like Lazarus. We need to continue to press other Senators to agree to return to the regular process of public hearings, expert witnesses, legislative proposals, committee hearings, amendments and then we might get an improvement on Obamacares.
6
According to Wikipedia, Senator Collins is "Described as one of "the last survivors of a once common species of moderate Northeastern Republican",[6] Collins is considered a bipartisan and centrist member of the Republican Party, and an influential player in the U.S. Senate.[10][11]" We need her. Send her a few dollars to show how much we appreciate and support her:
Senator Susan M Collins
413 Dirksen Bldg,
Washington, DC 20510
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins
11
I called Senator Collins office to thank her on behalf of my loved ones that need the ACA for the care it provides them, and allows them to be able to work to support themselves.
If only their could be Bi-Partisan efforts to improve the ACA so that the right to Affordable Health Care could be made stronger. However, Senators from the Republican party not as caring of Average Americans as Senator Collins find they need to play politics with the health and lives of others less fortunate then themselves.
7
I didn't find a Washington D.C. phone number but here is Senator Collins contact information in Maine:
68 Sewall Street, Room 507
Augusta, ME 04330
Main: (207) 622-8414
2
It is really sad when we find ourselves having to grovel in gratitude when a politician actually does the right thing.
Now that the ideology based trajicomedy seems to be over, Congress has an opportunity to begin the bipartisan hearings, the careful study and the ongoing debate that can lead to truly improved healthcare for all Americans.
It may take several years of work to understand what an amended healthcare law should provide. And, it may take lots of tax money to implement.
But, it will be worth it – improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our medical system, substantially reducing the likelihood of raging epidemics, improving our nutrition, and increasing our productivity if coupled with opportunities for more of us to attend classes and workshops that use improved teaching methods.
These are benefits that we all want. So now, is the time to contact all of our Senators and Representatives and urge them to get to work.
8
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Susan Collins for having the will and the guts to stand up against the tide. If only there were more like you.
10
Thank you Senator Susan Collins for having a heart. Thank you Senator John McCaine for your courage. And Bill Cassidy, who I'm embarrassed to say is from my state, should return give some free medical care for those who can't afford it, with or without insurance. For example, I need a CT Scan, which would cost me $1,200. Insurance pays $400. I can't afford it. I wish people would drop the word insurance when it comes to health care. We don't need insurance. We need health care.
17
The Senators object to repealing the ACA on the basis that it may adversely effect the insurance coverage of about 20 million people. These people include about 10 million who were given health care insurance for free (Medicaid expansion to include able body adults) and about 10 million people with pre-existing conditions. What is never mentioned are the 150 million people who have had their health insurance adversely effected by the ACA - those patients with employer provided health insurance. These 150 million people have seen their wages stagnate (as employers are forced to pay larger premiums, rather than providing increased wages to their employees). These 150 million citizens have also seen their health care coverage adversely effected by increasing deductibles. I feel that the Senate should repeal the ACA and then work on solutions regarding persons with pre-existing conditions and those who have been helped by Medicaid expansion.
1
It is true what you say but health care inflation has been some of the lowest in 50 years.
What is going on?
I always find it interesting that those who are opposed to the ACA focus on premium increases while that law has been in effect, while completely ignoring the staggering increases that preceded it. Selective amnesia.
The problem won't go away until the system is redesigned as a not-for-profit, single payer system that eliminates the middle-men who are currently sucking out almost 30 cents on every dollar without providing a penny of actual care. Meanwhile, their employers have an obligation to their shareholders to drive costs as high as possible.
Consider when you go to the lab or hospital, all of those windows of people processing insurance information. They should all be gone. The only relevant questions are "what is your name?" and "what is wrong?".
I cannot understand why so many on the Progressive fringe are gloating over the inability of the GOP to come to an agreement on ending Obamacare. If the Dems do not cooperate to replace Obamacare, then very soon the subsidy payments to the Insurers ILLEGALLY BEING MADE TO INSURANCE COMPANIES and which payments have been ruled by courts as unconstitutional inasmuch as they were not authorized by Congress will end, and the marketplace will collapse.
Maybe, Trump and the GOP should call of this nonsensicall battle to replace Obamacare, allow the subsidy payments to insurers to end, and then watch Obamacare implode as it surely will.
Be smart, Republicans.
1
We're not so much gloating as we are mystified and somewhat miffed by lousy spelling, atrocious grammar, iffy claims about the Constitution, and a complete ignorance of facts getting thrown around in an effort to kick tens of millions of Americans off their health plans, pull the funding for millions in nursing homes, yank the wheelchairs out from under sick kids, and similar hijinks.
Thank you Sen Collins. I have a friend from Maine and this bill would have done so much harm to them had it passed. It cannot be easy to standup to the senate boys club. Unlike them you were looking out for all Americans. Especially the elderly and disadvantaged. You can sleep well at night for having compassion and a true sense of the pain this bill could have caused.
7
"Appears" is the word that catches the eye. Our hopes lie with a healthy dialogue between Sens Collins, McCain and Lisa Murkowski. It is frightening to imagine what the proponents of this cruel mess have offered Alaska by way of trying to buy its Senator off.
And, isn't that strategy just truly appalling? Buy off the no votes in the attempt to just pass something, anything to the detriment of the entire nation?
There is nothing to be said about this bill, those who cooked it up and the others who will vote for it, except that they are all rubbish.
Sen. Murkowski, we look to you to come through once again and join Sens Collins and McCain, to whom all those who need affordable healthcare are deeply grateful.
10
It was anti-Obama venom that motivated Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump to pursue their misguided repeal and replace Obamacare mission – the former for over seven years and the latter ever since he started his presidential campaign. In fact, they were more interested in repealing the act, than replacing it with anything better. They couldn’t stand anything that would go down in history as an Obama legacy.
To their regret, not all Republican senators were willing to go along with their plan. Some of them, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Susan Collins of Main counted first, said no to the deeply flawed Republican replacement bill. They did it twice. Anticipating sure defeat, Mr. McConnell thought it prudent not to put the bill to a Senate vote.
We all thought that we had seen the end of this charade; that the anti-Obama Republicans wouldn't waste any more time and taxpayers’ money pursuing their misguided mission. We were wrong. Two Republican senators, Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, hoping to resuscitate it, crafted a new bill. Senators McCain and Collins found this one, too, equally flawed. They said no, this time, too.
Shamefully, anti-Obama Republicans refuse to give up. "We are going to press on," says Senator Lindsey Graham. Surely, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump would find his decision heart-warming. It makes me wonder: "Is Mr. Graham also motivated by anti-Obama venom?"
8
The word Republicans associate most often with the ACA is "disaster". They have never explained why that is, but usually talk about rising premiums for some. Where are Democrats saying at least, "Hey, it's better than what we had before."? Democrats have also neglected their duty to propose changes that would alleviate the problems. Present Democratic leadership is totally incompetent.
2
Trump and the GOP's desire to deny healthcare to millions of Americans should NEVER be forgotten or forgiven. But for very few people of conscience, like John McCain and Susan Collins, emergency departments of hospitals in this "rich" (no, CHEAP AND MEAN) country would experience hostage situations as armed family members without insurance would demand medical treatment for themselves and loved ones and friends at gunpoint. We had BETTER get universal healthcare, or take it by force!
8
Thank you, Senator Collins, for having the will to protect Americans, and the strength to stand by your principles.
12
The question is why 48 Senators are willing to vote for this abominable bill, a number very close to a majority. Many of us suspect pressure from billionaires who finance their campaigns plays a large role in it but it's worth doing a little digging for off-the-record statements or leaks that confirm this.
13
If Americans weren't so ignorant of real American history and Congressional districts weren't so gerrymandered we never would have reached this precipice. I like the photo in this article of the "honorable" Bill Cassidy hiding his face - very appropriate.
19
You Go, Girl! Thanks to Senator Susan Collins for her courage and dedication to true democracy in America. She is a true, blue American! I'm going to send money for her re-election campaign even though I will not vote for any republican for any office in the land until the International Mafia is cleaned out of their ranks. Probably never if HIStory holds.
Thankfully there are many socially conscious, economically centered women stepping up to take one-half the power in America and the world to bring balance to the current destructive male-model of fear-anger-hate-violence-Lies,Lies,Lies-WAR. WE THE PEOPLE can take the mafia down in the next elections and send them back to wherever their ancestors came from.
The Con Don wants the NFL to ban kneeling. I say Ban The Con Don and his International Mafia Top 1% Global Financial Elite Robber Baron/Radical religion Good Old Boys' Cabal. NOW is the time BEFORE they further destroy OUR lives.
8
Could not have said it better myself!
Good. Let Obamacare die the rapidly quickening death it deserves on its own merits. It was and is a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions, and when it croaks, the American people will realize that they were sold a highly flawed bill of goods by Obama and the Democrats.
It wouldn't die if it wasn't being sabotaged.
13
I've heard people call Social Security a Ponzi scheme as well. It seems to be in the right-wing playbook to say that. My answer is that neither Social Security nor ACA, nor Medicaid for that matter can be a Ponzi scheme when they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. Republicans want to pull the financial rug out from under both programs, and then say, look, they were doomed to fail. Money is the life blood of any social program. Remove the money, and the program will die, but you will be the murderer of the program in that case, not a disinterested observer who knew better all along.
If wish you luck, that you have good health and no preexisting conditions, or you'll live to deeply regret that opinion.
where is the cost/benefit analysis of the sanders plan - co-sponsored by 17 other senators - a national healthcare system w/o the required involvement of private insurance companies?
how long before the CBO releases that report? how long before we find out how much it will cost us to join the rest of the world by providing healthcare to everyone?
12
Thank you Senator Collins for putting people over party! Now, please, let's get to work on a bipartisan effort to repair the ACA.
13
I believe that factors in the Republican Party and others do no wish any support
of any health care program. Others in the GOP want it but are afraid to say "No" to these so called plans. They are afraid to expose themselves as being for it or some version of it.
Some legislators want a Pyrrhic victory no matter what the cost, even though, sadly, and inhumanely, it will seriously affect their constituents.
That is all this is about. It is perfectly ridiculous to try and ram through a bill this large and consequential without study, budget planning, bipartisan contribution and contributions from the medical field. All the remainder is noise
meant to distract.
6
I am quite sure that most of the members of congress don't know what it is like to try and find health insurance when you have a preexisting condition. I am equally sure that most members of congress do not know what ti is like to go without decent affordable health insurance. They have very good government subsidized health care which is paid for by their constituents. Those are the same constituents who stand to lose their insurance if this bill passes. How is it possible that these senators can stand up in their expensive suits and tell their fellow Americans, the people they are supposed to represent, that they don't merit a decent affordable health care system? How is it that every other industrialized country in the world can provide universal health care for it's citizens and the United States cannot?
Donald Trump promised the voters that everyone would have great healthcare and that it would cost less than the ACA. Well, where is it? "The Donald" has yet to put forth HIS healthcare plan, the one he promised to the American people. Seems the great deal maker is nothing more than an Elmer Gantry like snake oil salesman in an expensive suit.
12
The Republican leadership has made it very clear in this effort that they owe their allegiance to their big donors that help with media blitzes to win elections. Clearly not to the needs of the American people who deserve a carefully thought out bill in any changes to Obamacare. John McCain's clarity in recalling a time when both parties were allowed some say in crafting legislation(not just secret deals worked out by the Republican party excluding Democrats which has become the norm once they have had power)was so refreshing coming from a Republican. His illness seems to have clarified his thinking and appears to have returned him to being the ethical John McCain of the past. And of course the courage of two women, Senators Collins and Murkowski has made the difference. I will not put Rand Paul in the same category for his weird ideology means that even though he is a physician, he cares nothing about decent healthcare for Americans.
Obamacare of course needs work. No major legislation this complicated is perfect and needs amendment. It would have worked much better if a Republican Congress intent on sabotaging it had voted proper funding. Of course any thinking person knows that Medicare for all is the only truly economical ways to provide the service. Adding a layer of profit to the already great cost of medical care does not and never did make sense. And it would allow government, IF there is the will of Congress, to rein in the egregious costs of medication.
4
Senator McCain is right, any legislation as important as this needs to be worked out by both parties or it will continue to be redesigned every time the majority party changes.
Everyone would probably agree that the ACA could be better but that has to come from both sides of the aisle.
9
It really is astonishing how far the GOP Congress is willing to tell its constituency that it's willing to pull the rug out from under people's halth insurance. By every current measure, the vast majority of Americans would rather keep the ACA in place rather than simply repeal it and throw millions under the GOP bus with a bogus "replacement."
But then, when one considers that the Republican Party has been ideologically against—in varying degrees of zealousness—any form of federal help to the people, starting with Social Security in the 1930's, one cannot be totally surprised. To this day they still work against every social program in existence, including SS, Medicare, Medicaid, the EPA—on and on. The very idea of Washington DC improving people's lives is almost predictably anathema to them.
Here we are, 300+ million strong with an 18 trillion dollar, incredibly diverse economy, and the GOP still thinks in terms of a 19th century, buggy whip nation when it comes to social programs.
5
I hadn't thought of it that way but you're right. Many of them want to go back to the days of slavery and women having very little more rights... What has happened in this country?
8 straight years of Repeal and Replace. 8 straight years of being told, "we can do better", campaign promises of "it will be the best healthcare plan EVER"
And this is the best the GOP can produce. Really?
6
OK - can we NOW work together with a Health Care Bill that corrects the problems with the ACA and actually, you know, helps people?
Not a tax relief bill, not a GOP bill, not a DNC bill, not a bill designed to strip away health care from all but the wealthy and Congress or make it unaffordable, not a bill that bankrupts the nation or its people, but a bill that starts with the premise that people should not be left to die in the United States of America.
3
Congratulations to Senators Collins and McCain for standing up to the Republican Party on this issue.
6
Why doesn't anyone hold Trump accountable for the promises he made? He promised that "we're going to have insurance for everybody" with his great healthcare plan. He promised that "the government will pay for it." He promised that "anyone who currently has insurance [will continue to] have insurance.” He promised that "nobody will be worse off financially" with his great plan. And, finally, on 60 Minutes, Trump claimed: “I am going to take care of everybody … Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.” More recently, Trump has promised that repeal will end with “a beautiful picture.”
Where is "beautiful picture"? Why is it only Trump's opponents who try to make him keep his promises, and the people who believed him and voted for him allow him to lie over and over? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't Trump supporters be the ones that are let down and disgusted? What did they vote for, if not Trump's promises?
7
Americans have decided they like the idea of access to healthcare, even if the ACA is far from perfect. I don't think the GOP will ever be able to put this genie back in the bottle so they may as well sit down together and apply some fixes to it, or move toward Medicare for everyone (including veterans). If only they could direct the zeal with which they grovel to their "base" and their big money donors to solving the disgraceful dilemma that has been the American healthcare system for far too long.
4
Republicans get elected by the same people who get harmed by their elected leaders. And they never realize that. The success of this Republican strategy has been intoxicating to the GOP leaders. It is a case for a social science research.
5
The Republican party long ago quit being "for the people." My thanks to senators Collins and McCain for not forgetting us and caring enough to stick up for what is right instead of blindly following the party.
4
I want healthcare reform, but not what the GOP, after having 7 years to whine and moan about it, have brought to the table.
I remember the pre-ACA days: no coverage for pre-existing conditions (not coverage for a high price but NO coverage), lifetime caps, and getting kicked out of your plan because you got sick. I won't support any GOP plan that takes us back to the halcyon days of health insurance only for the healthy.
7
Despite absence of CBO analysis, senate hearings, and floor debates, Lindsey and Bill are touting their version of healthcare, and magniloquently mulling about a marquee issue, that has plagued the country for decades, if not centuries. ACA had one inspiration, quite conceivably, form the Heritage Foundation, of which the circular logistician, Gingrich was a part. Graham is worried about Medicaid going belly up, but seems OK with the rich garnering truck loads of cash, stashed away overseas. What a hypocrite!
ACA is by no means a perfect plan or a panacea. Obviously, it needs a lot of fixer uppers, and to drumbeat that their plan is superior and will save trillions, can and will be a hard sell for the Graham-Cassidy team. That will be tantamount to a taradiddle. During the CNN healthcare debate, last night, the GOP pair constantly fended off the poignant criticisms about their plan, utterly detested by many medical organizations and insurance plans. They (the GOP duo) seemed impervious to those facts .
The Dems' arguments advanced by Bernie and Amy seemed less tenuous, but at least, some truths were spoken. Graham appeared to maintain a relatively nonchalant, and a devil-may-care-attitude. Bill Cassidy seemed more like a pecksniffian politician rather than a physician. And that is the cookie will crumble, before one can say Jack Robbins.
2
Let's all remember Graham and Cassidy desperately bouncing around like puppets on the strings of their true masters, like Addled-son and the Kochs. Both of these Senators are set for life, so it's not like they need to keep the job for financial reasons. Their true needs are for power and money, and if they lose access to satisfying those addictions that means some deadly withdrawal symptoms. Graham is a prima donna who teases us with occasionally reasonable thoughts, but when it comes time to vote he always shives the public.
6
The G.O.P. "health bill" has little, if anything, to do with improving the health of any human beings. People die. Bills live.
6
And the rich don't even appreciate more tax cuts. They will never have enough.
3
Susan Collins and John McCain are the only two republicans doing their jobs - serving people. Shame on the rest of the GoP... they say one definition of lunacy is to keep making the same mistake despite knowing the flawed outcome.... how many times has the GoP tried and failed now? Disgusting....
6
at least three Republican hero's that put PEOPLE FIRST before party like their supposed to do and merkosky will probably vote no to,the rest probably won't be RELECTED
1
Susan Collins is an obstructionist, switch parties. Also, John McCain is not mentally inept to successfully carry out his role, should retire/resign.
Michael W., you write, and I quote: "John McCain is not mentally inept..."
I couldn't agree with you more. McCain is NOT mentally inept, and he displays his keen mental acuity by opposing a bill that will harm millions of Americans. We need more John McCains.
3
a lot of IDIOTS in the republicans PARTY and leadership that make the same mistake over and over and over again work with the dems and independents or get voted out
1
It would seem that you are correct in claiming that McCain is not inept enough to support this imbecelic Bill.
1
As a physician who works in a ~60% Medicare/Medicaid environment, I have to say that my biggest frustration with this is that all the conversation centers around who is or isn’t going to pay for things. There’s really no sensible discussion about the structure of actual healthcare, or its delivery, or why it costs so much, or why not only is there an issue with access but why access is not equitable. Insurance is mostly tied to employment or whatever the current implementation of state medicaid or flavor of medicare is. As a result, it’s completely unpredictable what my patients actually have access to for services.
I saw two patients yesterday with essentially equivalent jobs and take-home pay. One happens to work for one of the major airlines, and basically can get whatever he wants as long as he needs it. Another also works hard, but every single thing that we try to get for him is a major struggle because he has a different insurance contract. Neither one of them of course knew that when they took their current jobs, but of course had no idea what they would need until they had their events (strokes).
There are real structural issues to be discussed, but the superficial conversation about what the mean-spirited and inane Republicans are going to do to lower rich peoples taxes doesn’t come close to scratching the surface of addressing the actual issues. I’m losing all hope that anything productive is ever going to come out of any of this.
16
So the assault on Obamacare appears to end for now. (Sen. Murkowski, what say you?) Here's a question: The ACA -- and all the Senate repeal efforts -- are structured as changes to the 1986 tax code. (I'm oversimplifying.) When the Republicans move to the tax code overhaul (i.e.passing billions in tax cuts for the rich, along with reducing the corporate income tax to near nothing), can they include language that guts Obamacare by dropping or modifying provisions that fund or authorize it?
Republicans are going to have the same problem with tax cuts as they did with healthcare, INCOMPETENCE
I agree with Mark: "A superpower is not measured by the size of its economy, the number of its tanks, warplanes, or aircraft carriers, nor is a superpower measured by the number of men and women in uniform. A superpower is measured by how it treats its citizens and America is now far from being a superpower."
Trump tried to "MAGA", well if that were the case we would have:
1. Healthcare for all - affordable and fair
2. Reduction in Wars fought overseas - and no wars
3. Respect from most nations (which we used to have)
5. Job growth and a sound economy (which was on the upswing already from Obama)
So far, in grading Mr. Trump (and yes I left off the uptick of Wall Street, I"m more in favor of Main street first) I give him an F.
6
Hurrah to Senator Susan Collins for putting politics aside to vote against the extremely cruel and flawed Graham/Cassidy health care bill. This bill ,if enacted,will be devastating to millions and millions of Americans,particularly the most vulnerable of us- the poor,the disabled,nursing home patients,children and people with pre-existing conditions. I hope Senator Murkowski will follow suit , and join Senators Collins and McCain in voting No to this atrocious proposed bill.
6
Why do Republicans completely ignore the fact that the majority of Americans want Congress to just FIX the ACA, not repeal it. This is not rocket science, folks.
10
Republicans see their obligations as only toward their base of wealthy people, corporations and their "whites only" voting base. They couldn't care less about Americans as a whole.
It is if you believe that rockets--much like global warming--are driven by Jesus' will
Ms. Collins has consistently stood for fairness on this issue, while not grandstanding or groveling for votes. She is what I term a "Rational Republican ", one that is rare nowadays. Time for BOTH parties to govern from the middle where the vast majority of Americans live. Tone down the extremism and we might get something done!
8
Perhaps it would help the Republicans if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (yes, that is its real name) ceased to be referred to as "Obamacare". Medicare is not called "Johnsoncare". Medicare Part D is not called "Bushcare". Social Security is not called "Rooseveltcare". Call it the Affordable Care Act and work together to repair the issues in need of that, support the parts that are working well, and promote it wholeheartedly.
6
A "slap in the face of the Republican party" seems an appropriate price to pay for a hug to the American country. Thank you, Senators McCain and Collins, for satisfying your oath to the nation!
4
Republicans working on healthcare is an oxymoron. When you spend your whole life fighting against universal healthcare you aren't suddenly going to start caring about people less fortunate than yourself. If President Obama hadn't made it illegal to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions it would have never happened in a million years at the hands of Republicans. Anyone with loved ones with pre-existing conditions that voted against the Democrats is supremely irresponsible and delusional.
4
Senator Cassidy was on a CNN town hall meeting last night and a wearing one of those macabre plastic Republican smiles pasted to his face. Bernie Sanders was standing next to him and asked the question; Are you ready to have Medicare negotiate better prices with the drug companies, we all know we are overpaying and it is costing us many billions of dollars.
Cassdidy responded first about how United States is not Canada. Brilliant deduction and did not answer the question. When it came up again two minutes later, Cassidy said Bernie you are the most honest man in government (dramatic pause)... You admit to being a socialist! That was his answer as he went on about Bernie and how socialist systems failed around the world to bring care to their citizens. Have you been to Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England Mr. Cassidy? Or do you spend all of your time golfing with your drug lobbyist?
I used to be a New Yorker: ENOUGH ALREADY! Fix the ACA. Medicare for 55 and older. Try it for ten years. What do you idiots have to lose!
10
At least he is smiling and you know it is bad for democrats when we smile just after little setbacks caused by RINO members of congress. Excuse me now I'm about to turn on the radio and listen to Rush Limbaugh.
A related economic tragedy is military spending.
With the latest $83 billion increase, America spends almost $700 Billion annually. That's one out of every 3.5 federal tax dollars. America spends the most, which more than the next nine countries combined. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/04/24/the-top-15-countri...
America could spend $500 billion annually and be just as safe by any arguable metric. No other nation maintains military bases in 80 countries. America doesn't need to police the world or fight endlessly in the Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere. Our intelligence agencies keep watch for international threats and if diplomatic responses fail to dissolve dangers, then our military can respond. B-2 bombers can strike anywhere worldwide from Nebraska within 24 hours.
With no budgetary impact, this $200 billion EACH YEAR could make health care more affordable and universally available for all Americans.
Congress cares more about giving ludicrous amounts of tax money to military industrial corporations (essentially making death) than it does improving America's literal health.
11
The republicans care more about giving tax cuts to themselves and big corporations that they represent then healthcare for ALL AMERICANS that's what there doing behind closed doors. MOST republicans are detestable and INCOMPETENT and can't govern
From my extensive reading of articles and comments in the NYT I have learned about the severe problem of voter suppression and not providing polls and denying people voter registration. In Canada one option to register is to check a box on the form when filing one's income taxes to register to vote federally. Another thing we do municipally, provincially and federally is run many advance polls. Indeed, we are having a by election...what we call special elections...in the city of Vancouver in October. There are 2 advance polls being held.
5
In this fractured political climate, it takes courage to do the right thing for the country. Susan Collins has put the well being of the country ahead of her party. Thank you, Senator Collins.
7
In my opinion, this bill is not "doomed" until it actually is voted on or is officially scuttled by McConnell. There is a lot of back room wheeling/dealing still going on. If you oppose this bill, keep the pressure on.
8
It appears repubs are stuck in old thinking on this and can't come up with a creative response. Pushing responsibility to states is too chaotic for such a large, universal issue of ppl's health.
2
Hopefully now the Senate can continue work on shoring up the exchanges and the other improvements to the ACA that Alexander and his group have been working on.
2
I'm not only getting tired from all this winning, my mind and soul are too weary to face another day of it.
Each day we wake up to the realization that, oh no, Donald Trump is president!
5
Looks like someone has a mega-headache.
In my home-town, there's an exhibition of political cartoons. Some have a take on this one "Obama: care - Trump: I don't care".
Sums up Trump, his government, his party.
3
Everyone is saying Rand Paul is a no vote. Yet Donald Trump just the other day said he thinks there's a chance to turn Paul's vote around.
Republicans who privately oppose the bill might be wise to withhold their vote if McConnell decides to bring the bill to the floor. Hold off voting "No" until the Big Three (McCain, Collins, and Rand) do their dirty work for them.
As tricky as old Mitch and the Trumpster are, they might try to get the vote to go along the ways everyone thinks it will go, to a narrow one vote loss that Pence can't break, and then at the last minute Paul walks in like McCain did last time, only this time Paul gives her the royal thumbs up.
Crazier things could happen.
1
I have no idea what kind of doctor Bill Cassidy is, but based on his performance as a politician, I wouldn't bring my gold fish to him.
10
red owl: Last night, in the CNN discussion on health care, bill cassidy reminded the audience SEVERAL times that he is a doctor. Obviously he thinks that makes him smart, right, powerful; HE KNOWS! (He repeatedly said)...and because he THINKS that he is all those things, everyone should just give in, and support his death bill. He also let the audience know that he was a doctor in prisons, and for poor people, who are all God's children, and it didn't matter to him whether they were Democrats or republicans; he treated them all the same. This guy is too much; he nauseates me.
2
Thank you Senator Collins, thank you Senator McCain for restoring my faith that some legislators have moral compasses and ethics. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
In this world where mobster Trump has done so many despicable things and the rest of the GOP are just propping him up, this was a really huge thing to do.
6
I wouldn't bet my last dollar on Rand Paul voting no.
I wish these articles would cut out the hyperbole about how it's "dead, unraveling, etc. etc".
It's not dead until it's dead, to quote Yogi Berra, or something he might have said.
8
While I sincerely wish it was true that this bill was dead, I have an ominous feeling that Murkowski will vote yes now that the deal has been sweetened for Alaska, and then Paul will flip to yes just as he did before. It seems unthinkable than McConnell put this out there again without a solid plan for how it will win. Republican senators and Trump are likely laughing at this @nytimes headline right now.
4
Bill Cassidy and the Sundowned Bill.
1
The Despicables otherwise known as the GOP, tried to push through healthcare legislation on the sly as their deceitful ways have become their standard approach to doing business in this Congress. Fortunately there are a very few unprogrammed GOP representatives who are worthy of the respect due their office who refused to be bought and sold by rich donors and Mitch McConnell.
2
Not to worry, it will be much easier with fewer democrates in congress and the constituency dwindles as they start voting for employment, security, law and order.
Now can congress and the senate work on repair?
2
It would be nice if a few more Republicans showed some integrity and stood up and said the obvious - these bills are a sham.
Maybe the handful of serious minded Republicans opposing the trumpcare debacle can work with Democrats and fix the few minor flaws in the ACA.
59
Integrity has gone straight out the window with Mitch McMconnel's Senate. Unfortunately there are many toxic people in government these days.
Two Republicans stand against this latest insult of a healthcare proposal for essentially humane reasons and one stands against it because it's not inhumane enough. So in my book that's only two Republican Senators who have any conscience. The authors of this proposal certainly do not.
Who got to Lisa Murkowski on this one? It's still the same pathetic "Keep Certain Americans Rich And The Rest Unhealthy Again" plan all of the previous ones have been. Did the Koch's get to her? It certainly wasn't her fellow Alaskans who, over time, will be removed from having health insurance. Who got to her?
7
No CBO analysis, no senate hearings, and no floor debates. Lindsey and Bill, what were you guys mulling around about a marquee issue, that has plagued the country for decades, if not centuries. ACA had one inspiration, quite conceivably, form the Heritage Foundation, of which the circular logistician, Gingrich was a part. Graham is worried about Medicaid going belly up, but seems OK with the rich garnering truck loads of cash, stashed away overseas. What a hypocrite!
ACA is by no means a perfect plan or a panacea. To drumbeat that their plan is superior and will save trillions, can and will be a hard sell for the Graham-Cassidy team. That will be tantamount to a taradiddle. During the CNN healthcare debate, last night, the GOP pair constantly fended off the poignant criticism about their plan, utterly detested by many medical organizations and insurance plans. They (the GOP duo) seemed impervious to those facts .
The Dems' arguments advanced by Bernie and Amy seemed less tenuous, but at least, some truths were spoken. Graham appeared to maintain a relatively nonchalant, and a devil-may-care-attitude. Bill Cassidy seemed more like a pecksniffian politician rather than a physician. And that is the cookie will crumble, before one can say Jack Robbins.
1
What took Susan Collins so long? This bill was the worst of a bad lot.
2
That there is (was) ANY support for the Cassidy/Graham bill is a nasty mark on the current state of Republicanism.
5
can you imagine having bill cassidy as your doctor? how terrifying.
8
A man that dodge the draft is putting a congressman that actually went to war and was torture as a POW in shame because he does not agree with a bill that the president want to pass with out being properly discussed, analyzed and its impacts have been never truly measured.
This is the same man that called NFL players traitors because they kneel while the National Anthem is played previous to a football game.
Evidently his nationalism & patriotism is completely misguided or a complete hypocrisy.
4
Drive a steak through the heart of this heartless, healthless bill. Fill its coffin with garlic. Bury it at the crossroads. Salt the ground. STILL, this zombie monster will claw its way out of the grave, and stalk the land again. Republicans could have taught Frankenstein a thing or two. I realize conservatives all believe in resurrection. But isn't there a limit? Euthanize this mis-begotten creature and heal the one we have now, the one that the Republicans have been maiming and torturing since Obamacare was born.
5
Thank you Ms. Collins.
2
The vote hasn't been taken but at least we have a sliver of hope. The next question is what will follow. There are some real problems with the ACA. The cost of premiums is rising significantly. An analysis of the cost in 2018 has shown that the rates will rise about 8%. But for some the cost will be much higher. There could be as much as a 49% increase for New Mexico next year. In Pennsylvania the rates could be between 8 to 26 % higher. There are areas where there is only one provider participating. Hopefully Schumer and Pelosi will understand something has to be done. There Is an opportunity for compromise, Trump has shown he is willing to go outside the Republican congress to get something done. He owes them nothing. They did everything they could to keep him from the nomination. He knocked off one at a time of the contenders, financing much of his campaign out of his own pocket. Then he beats the anointed Democratic candidate and takes both houses of congress with him. Schumer and Pelosi can rave about Hilary's abilities but they are politically savvy enough to know that this present an opportunity to show that they can work in a bipartisan way with someone as unpredictable as Trump. If that happens, Medicaid is saved and premium cost are suppressed. It is a win, win opportunity. For too long compromise has been push out of the equation. The time is ripe for it to return.
6
Right--NEVER rely on Rand Paul. He's a hard core prevaricator and self-dealer, who cares nothing for his constituents. We need Lisa Murkowski, now.
3
ChesBay: Well, I agree with you about Rand Paul. But Lisa Murkowski may care ONLY for her own constituents. The Barbarians have sweetened the pot for her, and for Alaskans. (A bribe is a bribe is a bribe...) I understand that she should care for her own constituents, but she should also care for the American people as a whole. We shall see what she does.
2
I don't understand why it is so difficult for the GOP to understand that you can not mandate coverage of pre-existing conditions (which the vast majority of Americans want), and get rid of the individual mandate to buy insurance, the least popular aspect of the ACA. It's simple math. If you get rid of the mandate to buy insurance, but still force insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, premiums would absolutely skyrocket so they can maintain their profits with less people paying into the system.
6
Phil--The GOP is NOT "mandating" coverage for pre-existing conditions. Why is this so difficult for YOU to understand?
But they are claiming that they are. Re-read his comment. It seems that you are the one having difficulty understanding.
Dose anybodyout there get a straight answer when they ask about costs prior to treatmeant? Can anybody discover what facilities produce the best quality treatment most cost effectively as to make informed choices based on a "free market" system.?
Billing is a major issue in our current healthcare system. Why is this not part of the discussion in congress? Are our representatives really that inept? Dose capitalism really override democracy to such an extent that the people must be sacrificed for those in power?
We need leaders who can address these issues head on and implament sustaining solutions. What we have now is all talk and no action.
We need more young thoughtful people to get envolved in running for office. Times for action.
3
We as Americans should each applaud the 4 who voted against this horrendous HC Bill. THANK YOU for Representing Us and for Our Health Above Paying Down Our Depts.. Thank You!
1
Nancy, keep in mind that people like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul don't like this bill because it is not CRUEL ENOUGH! Rand Paul is a physician. Oy vey. I can remember when his father, Ron Paul, also a physician, was asked what people who cannot afford health insurance or health care should do if they are very sick, and his reply was: "DIE."
Ted Cruz is a YES vote. His NO teaser is pure showboating.
6
So how did Republicans come up with something so bad? The answer is quite simple ... this is a sociopathic party guided by nothing more, nothing less .. than pure animus and spite. Embarrassed by and hateful of the ACA's record low in the un-insurance rate, they chose to issue a fatwa, and, mercifully, it has failed.
8
Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, hypocrites and liars. Hope your constituents remember this, next time. Susan Collins, solid, honest, and reliable, what the Republican Party SHOULD be. Hope YOUR constituents remember this, next time. You're a gem. Thank you, Ms. Collins. And, bravo to Senator McCain.
6
Ironically, this is good news for Trump voters. They would be the biggest losers if the bill passes.
5
Reality check they should fire all of congress an start over all bunch criminals, look ar the record . No one should hold public office if they commit crime on any level
2
Maybe now, instead of claiming they tried real hard and just came up short, Republicans can acknowledge what they knew all along - that this was a stupid promise to make, and a foolish political stunt.
Any fix of healthcare requires a majority of all Americans to support it, not just a majority of conservative republicans.
5
Susan Collins for President!
6
"Appears dead" isn't the same as being dead. It ain't over 'til it's over, so we still have to be vigilant.
20
Why shouldn't health care be a national SECURITY issue? A healthy and well-cared-for populace is a invaluable asset. And yes, birth control access and maternity care is part of this. Senators Graham, Cassidy, and McConnell need to start critically thinking instead for kowtowing to special interests.
5
Liz, they CANNOT stop kowtowing to special interests. It is what puts more money into their pockets. Here we have VERY WEALTHY politicians, STILL courting the bribe, the kick back, the pay off, all so they can knock a lot of very sick and very poor people off health care. Oh, and pass a tax cut for their VERY WEALTHY cronies. The stench coming off them must be tantamount to a pile of dead bodies, rotting in the sun.
But, neither birth control or maternity care is necessary for those over 65
Congress should give up their individual healthcare and THEN vote on a bill.
7
I don't know why people make a big deal about the fact that Congress receives much better healthcare than it is willing to provide for the American people. I agree that the situation isn't right or just, but most members of Congress are so rich that they can pay for healthcare out of pocket anyway, so changing their coverage isn't likely to change their pro-rich outlooks or votes.
2
If they paid for their healthcare, they would not be giving up their healthcare. The point is to give up their healthcare and THEN vote on a bill.
It's always interesting how something with a lot of big warts on it can be made to look perfect in the presence of something even uglier. So much for our idealized fantasy of beauty. Like everything else, it doesn't really exist it's all just in our heads. Kind of like freedom.
2
"Kind of like freedom."
"Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose..."
trump and the GOP are trying to take away most, if not all, of our freedoms. When people get as desperate as they are going to get, that is how they will think about what the solution to their problem might be: "Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose..." Just as they thought before the American Revolution, before the French Revolution, before the Russian Revolution...before the Warsaw Ghetto uprising...
This is not going away. They will continue to look for an issue or an amount that will sway the one vote they need. Republicans need to get back to a regular process that includes multiple hearings and committee discussions before a bipartisan bill is introduced. Until then we should not stop letting the Senate know that this is a bad idea.
13
It looks like there are at least 4 Republican Senators that have their constituents in mind rather than their party. So why is Trump picking on McCain? Sounds like it's more personal than political to me. I guess he resents anyone that has something that he doesn't have. In this case that would be integrity.
19
Everything with Trump is entirely personal.
5
Yes, and courage.
3
The Affordable Care Act enabled millions of Americans to have health insurance, giving them the peace of mind that an illness would not destroy their lives would let them live in dignity. But they entered a broken system, senators if you want to work on healthcare reform then please fix the soaring healthcare costs that they wouldn't let them touch when they created the ACA, the outrageous cost of prescription drugs and hundreds of other cost problems that make the system far too expensive. Fix the problems and don't turn your backs on the millions you represent.
11
How long will it take for them to try another version of Repeal. It'll be repeal repeal repeal until we return balance of power to congress.
4
One of the few times the Clinton's were honest; about the need to abolish ACA. Yes, they would've concocted their own scheme, that certainly would've ended up on the social engineering scrap heep, also. But they did not express a lack of courage veiled as CBO steadfastness -- along with a sanctimonious defense of the ill, prevent them from attempting to address the health of the entire-Country; however misguided it would've been. Bubba has been on a them of "love thy neighbor"; about as pure a Christian motive as can be expressed. He should advantage this moment of enlightenment, to remind the Country about ACA,
America, until it can find enough integrity or drink itself to the courage, will continue to print away the Country's future propping up a system that is uninsurable.
Do you think that, before each bill is even floated, everyone knows that there are enough "No" votes? These four (I include Murkowski) are rock-solid in their states, and everyone else can continue to pretend to throw raw hamburger to their donors and the Trump base, while secretly breathing a sigh of relief and rush of gratitude toward the senators willing to take one for the team.
3
McCain campaigned to end Obamacare in his last election. He lied to the voters in AZ
Thank you, Senator Collins, for putting the welfare of millions of Americans over party politics.
10
As sure as the sun rises, the GOP will be at it again for the "51st or 61st time", as per Obama. Imagine if the GOP worked with same fastidiousness to help Americans as they do to hurt people in the name of a few billionaires and millionaires.
15
The only real solution is Medicare for all, and be done with it. Stop enriching insurance companies and big pharma. What is so hard about that, really?
17
Asteroids vs a brilliant star. Who wins?
Right now there are probably a majority of Republican Senators and Congressmen who are silently thanking Susan Collins for preventing this mess of a healthcare plan (or disaster) from actually getting passed.
6
The problem started with the premise they thought it would be easy - that threw them off. Many people don't care if their coverage is ACA or a GOP plan, but they do want appropriate coverage (or at least available) one way or another that they can actually pay for and be protected from going bankrupt. Healthcare isn't that simple. They would need to put a different type of effort into it, that is not slap dash, bullying and threats, but real due diligence and consulting with experts, etc.
10
It's not over until Murkowski says she's voting against it. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul are snakes in the grass. Graham is a master strategist. If Murkowski is lulled into voting for it under the rationale that it's a done deal anyway and she might as well make her constituents happy, Paul, Lee, and Cruz might just do a last minute switch and vote 'yes' allowing Pence to waltz through the door and kill Obamacare. This is not over yet until the week is up and the effort fails OR until Murkowski comes forward and says that she's not voting for it.
9
Recommend 100 times. Yes, this isn't the time to get complacent. Write to Sen. Murkowski and remind her that her vote still counts for all of us.
7
Collins and McCain define bipartisan.
Thank you for your professionalism, knowlege of American needs, and vision.
4
This bill has nothing to do with health care. It is about taking enough money FROM the healthcare budget to give money TO wealthy Republican donors in the form of tax cuts without raising the deficit. It is a transfer of wealth and nothing more. To say that the bill is a serious reform of health care is like saying that Trump's tweets are a serious form of diplomacy. Both represent the alternative universe we are living in.
The goal of the tax cut, of course, is to ensure that donor money will continue to flow to re-election campaigns in order to keep this disgusting GOP Congress in office. And whether the bill passes or not, it is the intent to pass it that matters here, so it would be karmic justice if all Republican members were voted out of office in 2018. Then they would have the fun of trying to find affordable medical insurance; I can't wait for that day.
10
This is the health care version of Ground Hog Day, the movie. Only now it's not only Bill Murray who is doomed to relive the same day over and over and over again - it's all of us - until they get it right - or whatever. It's never going to be over.
63
We are doomed to relive the same day over and over until we get "them" out of office!
1
I'm getting so tired of winning
7
How can Republicans be so stupid? They held the future of healthcare in their hands and they come up with this garbage? They could have done something half decent for America and secured their future. But, no, they simply don't have the brains required to govern our country, these people really are idiots, sorry but it is the truth, just idiotic. Freakin incredible!
The photo of Cassidy MD should read Cassidy MAD.
8
Collins has been the most impressive and thoughtful member of the Republican party for some time - -well done Susan.
24
The photo for this article reminded me that Senator Cassidy is a doctor. Surely he violated his Hippocratic Oath by sponsoring this bill: "First, do no harm."
33
The oath only applies if you are a patient of said doctor.
Remember doctors don't need to accept you as a patient, thus the oath would not apply.
and Dr. Price, too (nomen est omen the old Romans used to say)
1
@Driven: Well, that is the whole Republican attitude in a nutshell: pick and choose the people you will take care of, and leave the rest to rot. After all, not everyone is created equal.
They embrace the most un-American sentiment ever, at least, according to the Declaration of Independence.
1
Proud of Sens. Collins and McCain. I hope that Sen. Murkowski will speak up today. It is a sad thing that so few Republican Senators showed a conscience.
22
I'm glad this farce may be ending, especially when the co-authors and for sure the President doesn't even know what was in the bill or how people would be affected.
13
Republican senators have only one thing in mind: the re-election in 2018 coming soon. They forgot that they represent the people not the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, the reality stinks and they have to go on to put up a show for all the people to see the ugliness of the American politics. I vote for a term limit for all elected officials as candidate Trump promised in 2016.
6
From what I see, the healthcare industry is against this bill.
2
Don't count on Rand Paul, who voted yes last time.
9
Agreed Nancy - and the same goes for Senators Cruz and Lee, both of whom are currently "No" on the grounds that it doesn't go far enough to repeal the ACA, but could probably be persuaded to switch to "Yes" on the grounds that it's the best they can do for now. The bottom line is that those who oppose the Graham-Cassidy bill have to get as many firm "No" votes as they can get from Republican Senators (Murkowski, maybe Capito and Portman too).
Republican Senator Grassley said: “You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered. But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That’s pretty much as much of a reason (to vote for Graham-Cassidy) as the substance of the bill.” I would like to ask Senator Grassley this: If a granddaughter of yours was engaged to be married and it was discovered that her fiancee was a philanderer, didn't have the diploma he claimed to have had, was deeply in debt due to a gambling problem, and had anger issues, would you say she should still marry him because she had made a promise? Or would you urge her to break the engagement?
23
It warms my wicked little heart to see the republicans fail (I hope) once again. Here's hoping they continue to fail at everything they do.
Memo to Sen Collins: Thank you again for the courage of your convictions. Please consider moving across the aisle and join the Democratic Party.
9
Why don't we just ask insurance companies "How MUCH do you want us to possibly pay you short of having every man, woman, and child fall below the poverty line?"
5
@npomea: They would reply, "Just short of the poverty line? Why stop there?"
1
... and pharmaceutical companies, I should add!
Where's Trump's amazing and beautiful plan that gives everything to everyone at a fraction of the cost?
THAT was his actual campaign promise. Oh, it was a lie? Huh.
20
Will Democrats now figure out how to unseat some of the Republicans who supported these unpopular health care bills? Maybe they can hire some Republican strategists to show them how to fight and win.
11
Fair point. Republicans know how to campaign, even if their campaigns are based entirely on lies. Democrats know how to govern, have a platform that most Americans want, but forget the power of slick marketing techniques that Republicans use.
2
Trump promised the American people a better healthcare that would cover everybody. Except that he had no plan at all and he has not participated in the healthcare debate to offer solutions to protect the American people.
However, he is very good at berating the republican senators who opposed the bills because they did not stick with the group. He wants sheep in the party, not responsible politicians.
12
He said a few days ago that he expected to walk into our Oval Office and find a finished bill that would be everything he claimed on day 1. He never had any intention of actually DOING anything, just writing his name and demanding all bow in fealty
2
I think most working class Americans could stomach some trimming of spending on social programs, as long as those cuts are balanced by the wealthiest Americans paying their fare share of taxes. But anyone who proposes that millions of Americans who work very hard to barely keep their heads above water should be put in jeopardy of going without a crucial necessity, so a few hundred thousand billionaires and multimillionaires can enjoy increases in their already exorbitant wealth is not fit to serve in government - in America, or anywhere else. I would add that people maintaining this view are not fit to be included as members of a civilized society.
18
To use sports sayings that have been proven time and again: Never underestimate an opponent, especially Mitch McConnell. Don't look past the current game. Most games are won & lost in the final minutes. And, it's not over until it's over.
Within a 2 day period McConnell sweetened the bribes for Alaska - will let them keep Obamacare level of funding! - apparently enough that their Sen. Murkowski is still thinking about it. McConnell weakened pre-existing conditions protections more to try to get the votes of Cruz and Lee.
McConnell still has 5 days to bribe Senators. Remember even Paul Rand, who is being counted as a "no" said that about the earlier GOP bill then voted for it at the last minute.
As Yogi Berra said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
9
Republicans should remember that the essence of their promise to Americans was to bring them better health care, not just to 'repeal and replace' Obamacare. None of the appalling proposals they have brought forward come anywhere close to that. Which leads one to believe that they never wanted better health care for Americans anyway, just a tax cut for the rich.
11
This process lays bare the emptiness of the entire GOP party. Every yes vote is a vote against US citizens and would cause thousands of us to suffer and die from treatable ailments. (A terrorist's dream if promoted by a foreign nation.)
After 8 years of repeated votes to "Repeal and Replace", not only was there no replacement plan -- in 8 years there had been not a single meeting. They hastily crafted a garbage bill beginning and ending with the premise that robbing our neediest citizens of health care monies to give to the richest 2% as tax cuts was the gist of the plan. (This was the justification for beginning here and not with tax reform.)
All three bills have treated our health care as a source of profit for GOP donors with a complete disregard for our failing system of health care prior to the ACA. How is it that every other industrial nation provides universal health care at half the cost while the richest nation can't? (The GOP.) Our health system is now routinely cited as a major cause for our poorer outcomes (despite double the price.)
None of these bills addresses the costs of health care in the US. All would deprive millions of Americans of health care, causing thousands of deaths and doubling the number of bankruptcies due to medical bills (which the ACA halved.)
The only conclusion is that the GOP no longer hides that it legislates for its donors while using and abusing the electorate. With gerrymandering, they no longer have to.
8
Now on to the next hot mess, Tax "Reform".
Generally speaking to Republicans this means huge tax cuts for the wealthy
and huge deficits for the nation.
I confidently expect they will run true to form on this.
10
And while all this was going down, in a broadly bipartisan vote, the Senate easily approved an $83 billion raise for the military-industrial complex, more than even the Trump White House had asked for. Imagine that. The parties can overcome their ideological differences and their concerns about escalating costs and deficits when they want to. Indeed, perpetual foreign war has to be paid for, terrorists have to be hunted down wherever they breed, and defense of the homeland against rogue nuclear-armed nations must be constantly maintained and updated. But sick, injured and disabled American citizens also need defending with medicine, therapy and surgery. They face "the enemy" of disease and pain every day. Too many are terrorized not just by the disease itself but by a healthcare system that does not guarantee they can get the treatment they need in time to save their lives or their homes and life savings. No amount of tax money apparently is too great to spend on weapons and wars and still cut taxes for some of very corporations and wealthy individuals that profit handsomely from military contracts . Let us remember that when we are told we can't afford universal health insurance in any form.
150
So sad and so true. America spends $700 Billion each year, one of every 3.5 federal tax dollars, on the military. That's the most for any country and more than the next nine countries combined.
If America spent $500 billion annually, we would be just as safe, and $200 billion EVERY YEAR would be available (without budget impact)to make health care more affordable and universally available.
The Republicans have nothing to unite for when they lost Obama as scapegoat. Just a bunch of empty suits looking for a way to line their pockets and get reelected ad nauseum
45
Well said, Minette. I teach high school, junior year. We begin with Arthur Miller's The Crucible. You are so right. RepublicOns cannot function without a demon scapegoat to rail against. Like the fundamentalists who love them—a point I emphasize when we compare the Salem Witchcraft Trials to the McMartin Preschool Trials. McMartin is the longest, most expensive trial in US history, and the event which gave rise to the Evangelical far right. When the Soviet Union fell, they looked for their evil demons elsewhere—in health care if need be. In government, in "secular humanism." In transgenders and flag worship, in "Merry Christmas."
Unhappily they are pretty good at it.
10
Well said.
1
Well said.
1
This latest vote seemed to be in response to donations being down to the party due to inability to rescind the ACA - how incredibly sad this is. I can only wonder if they will put it up for a vote anyway and look 2x as foolish. These guys just can't govern.
12
Enough already! No matter how they slice it, no matter how they spin it, no matter how differently they present it..........any plan they concoct that puts more money in the pockets of the health insurance carriers or the pharmaceuticals will be a losing plan for the people. Remind me again, what is the purpose of this repeal?
14
To appease their wealthy donors who have cut back on their funding.
This has been "over" at least three times this year. It's never over. We'll be talking about this twenty years from now.
10
The Republicans actually did come up with a health plan that works. It became known as Obamacare. Formulated by the Heritage Foundation in 1989 it introduced the individual mandate and was tried out by Romney in Massachusetts where it worked.
20
@Srod999, yes! ACA in Massachusetts works, and I can attest to it with great enthusiasm! When my husband suddenly quit a nightmarish job, we were left without corporate sponsored health insurance for the first time in our long working lives. We went on Mass Health.
It was THE best health insurance on which I have EVER been. Low Premiums. $3.00 co-pays for prescriptions (which had been $40.00 on BCBS of MA). Kept my doctor. NO co-pays for office visits. No pre-approvals needed to see a specialist. Super responsive customer service.
I was sorry to return to corporate sponsored health insurance when he accepted a job at a new company.
2
I guess we'll just let the ACA fail in its own.
1
If it does and no meaningful attempt is made to fix its flaws the blame for that will land squarely on the Republicans.
Holding the Presidency and both houses of Congress comes with a responsibility to govern.
6
No, if it fails (which it probably won't, because a majority of Americans and health professionals support it), it will be because the current administration continues to sabotage it, all the while blaming President Obama, and, I guess, Hillary Clinton and the phantom illegal voters who denied DJT the popular majority vote. Oh, and the NFL.
10
Oh no, Midwest Josh. Republicans will do everything in their power to help that along.
1
Here's a GOP path to repealing Obama Care: Give free health care to everyone!
5
Taxpayer funded health care isn't free, it's something we all contribute to because we all need and use it. Every other industrialized nation on the planet knows this and has managed to implement it.
2
I wish Alaska had made a stand as well
9
Me too, but hopefully her vote of Nay will be the Stand.
Let’s not set aside the fact there are only three to five Republican senators voting against the latest atrocious incarnation of a health care bill. Two of them claim this version is not mean enough. The majority of the members of the party in power will be happy when progressive blue states are broke and the fascist inclined red states are well compensated for their viciousness.
6
How many more times can we thank the same three senators? When, oh when, will we be able to thank more Republicans for doing the right thing?
14
Susan Collins. A woman with a conscience. Thank you Senator Collins.
14
What is it the Republicans don't understand? Why is it so important to them to hurt millions of Americans who are their constituents? It is even more incredible that the fate of health care rests in the hands of on only two or three Senators. Two people out of 320 million.
8
They think that they represent American values, that everyone should provide for himself, and that solidarity may only be present in the case of catastrophes. Apparently, they expect people with catastrophic conditions to get the money for treatment via crowdfunding.
They purport to subscribe to Biblical norms, but what about the phrase "Whatever you do to the least of people, you do to me."? I guess the Bible is only taken out and dusted off when useful.
The attitudes of those wealthy in the White House reflects the very same attitude I saw in a rich friend: "why should I pay for people who have been too lazy to work and get ahead?"
2
The problem with this version of a healthcare package is that it is no better then what we have now.
Get the politicians out of the health insurance business. The will never use what they are trying to force on the populous. They're just trying to figure out how to dig deeper into the peoples' pockets at the least expense to them.
3
Due to the intense partisanship, Americans are at this time caught between a rock, Obamacare and a hard place, Republican bill. With rising premium costs, high deductibles and insurance providers dropping out like flies from Obamacare, it is according to Bill Clinton the craziest system in the world. It is quite surprising that his wife Hillary Clinton has not blamed it as one of the causes of her defeat last November. On the other hand, the GOP bill seems like a non starter with 4 senators impotent to force changes they would like or propose a sound new plan that can have enough support. All 4 senators were in favor of repealing Obamacare a year ago but now are incapable of doing it and of course the democrats are ready to stick with heavily propped up Obamacare and the consequences of its possible implosion. It is pathetic that in a country whose heath care budget item is the highest than any other items including even defense cannot manage affordable universal heath care. What are we electing representatives in congress and senate for? To just tax the citizens and spend on useless wars and colossal waste, including due to significant self inflicted illnesses, gun violence in mega cities and politicians living high on the hog? Bill Cassidy and the Graham sun dance has almost seen its sunset. Whats next for uninsured Americans and those being crushed by the weight of the cost of carrying health insurance or having to pay the penalty for refusing to carry health insurance?
4
I grew up in home where my WWII father worked 3 jobs. He was very conservative and I remember watching him watch William Buckley on TV. I'm now in my 60's. I have voted Republican all my life. But I am dropping my party affiliation and registering as an independent. The Republican party no longer stands for what I believe in. At the top of the list it is no longer fiscally conservative. To me that means only spending what you must and can afford. It doesn't mean cut taxes at any cost. It doesn't mean blowing up the ACA because medicaid spending is a runaway train and it's easier to dump that train onto the states. That is not governance. It doesn't mean taking a back seat to the rest of the world on renewable energy. Worse, embracing coal. None of which has me running to the Democrat party either. I can't think of a time when we were this politically dysfunctional as a country.
8
Fine comment, I feel exactly the same.
The "I used to be a Republican" club seems to be getting larger every day.
3
Where does it end? When will the republican party finally realize that most of America doesn't share their vision?
8
or their president
Maybe they should sit down together and carefully consider a viable way to make necessary reforms. Instead they hide behind closed doors, shut out not only the public, but their own colleagues from the process. And they want to destroy a program in place since 1964. Maybe they should rethink them whole process and make something that betters lives of all Americans. Donors already have good medical care.
77
They even shut out the estimates and recommendations of the Congressional Budget Office, the agency charged with INFORMING Congress. Would not surprise me if they tried to get rid of it so they can justify getting all their information from Fox, Limbaugh, Conservative Daily, and Breitbart.
When members of Congress shut doors in our faces, those doors should be destroyed with battering rams, and the perpetrators of secrecy pulled from their comfortable seats and hurled down the steps of the Capitol.
The battle has not been won yet. Please do not become complacent now. They still have five more days to sneakily ram through a horrible bill that harms millions of Americans. Trump will provide all the help he can with his distractions.
5
Brava, Sen. Collins! Why is this kind of integrity (and common sense) so rare?
4
I could't agree with you more.
I am still waiting for Trump to unveil his health care plan. You know, the one he promised over and over again. The one will cover more people with better care for less money. That's the plan i am waiting for. I hope he puts it out soon. I think it will be beautiful. He just needs a little more time. Right?
9
He's looking for the just right, beautiful words for unveiling it.
Think about it. The cost to the taxpayers, of over 60 Obamacare repeal & replace attempts year after year undertaken by Republicans since Obama was in office. And compute it to this very day.
Add the substantial office costs and individual salaries for each of the 435 congressional members of the House, and for the people who work for each member as staffers + aides. All those hours spent/wasted.
That cost was estimated by experts to come to $2 million per day.
Compute for all the years and 60 some times these House Republicans spent voting on worthless, symbolic bills that went nowhere.
Add in the fact they never spent that time crafting a workable replacement bill. But cobbled together in secret three hastily written, lousy bills in the past few months that went nowhere. They never devised a serious bill.
Yet more wasted time and tax dollars. Never again let Republicans refer to themselves as "fiscally responsible." They aren't. And they weren't during the Bush Administration.
And Mr. Trump isn't, with his excessive weekend travel + weekends at his properties, our secret service costs, and time he fritters away on his Twitter account, creating his daily controversies.
5
Maybe after this vote fails, GOP can start another Benghazi investigation....
Or they can use that time to look into the Trump aides' private e-mails.
Good for Susan Collins. Thank you.
Here's the question I have to ask when looking at this bill: Who would this law help? I just finished thumbing through the CBO report. The analysis is still rough but the answer is no one. Not even the states. The states will lose in the end because they're accepting liability for market place stability without permanent funding. The bill does a very good job of reducing healthcare enrollment though. Cruel and unusual is an understatement.
We're back to the underlying problem. Republicans spent 7 years beating the war drum against Obamacare and they still don't have any alternative. You can argue a conservative position on health care but ending Obamacare is not a position. These 48 senators are strawmen. Its long past time the electorate took them to account.
4
That a majority of Republican senators intended to vote to replace the ACA with a piece of legislation supported by only 24% of Americans, opposed by a majority of medical associations, health care providers, insurance companies, and patient advocates, written hastily and in secret, and unscored by the CBO tells us that this party has no idea how to govern responsibly. The mid-term elections are our best hope to begin to remove Republicans from office; we can and must vote them out.
5
As long as this issue remains in the hands of politicians nothing will ever be resolved. I haven't heard whether this is a standalone bill or is it open to the usual earmarks (PORK) that most bills have attached to them. If it isn't a single item issue then most likely these holdouts haven't gotten what they want yet. Especially McCain.
Good for you, Senator Collins. Hope Lisa Murkowski joins you. And John McCain is doing America a great service even as he deals with serious health issue.
7
This latest healthcare bill is NOT dead until it is. I don't trust Rand Paul to vote no when the vote is taken; these conservative critics always seem to come around. I take McCain and Collins at their word; we need another vote before resting for now. And they will be back. McConnell and crew are like a horror film character that can't be killed and always comes back in the sequel.
2
These people can't count votes within their own party never mind fixing the nation's health care system. Hopeless.
1
Perhaps the GOP could pass a bill negating the legality of the Democratic Party, thereby draining HALF the swamp. After all, they have vitally done this already, not only by shutting out any input by the opposition, but by anyone else. No public hearings, no data input......let's just throw darts and see where they land.
It is now glaringly obvious that Republicans have neither the wherewithal nor the stomach to govern. They can posture, and pontificate, but they cannot get ANYTHING done, at least not anything that will improve anyone's lot in this nation. When the debacle of the coming tax legislation comes to light (that is, if any light is shown upon it prior to a vote) their continued futility to address the needs and concerns of their constituents (remember us? the people back home?) and pander to special interests will begin to further unravel the fabric of decency and democracy. They should be ashamed, but they have no shame. Their collective greed and condemnation of common citizens is beyond comprehension.
4
So, knowing that tens of millions of Americans--wheelchair bound, elderly on fixed incomes, children with special needs, hard-working middle and lower middle class--could have their quality of lives reduced to third-world levels with the loss of Medicare and Medicaid and with health care beyond their reach, that knowledge moves only two Republicans to vote "no?" (The bill isn't cruel enough for money-cultist Rand Paul.) How do Republicans not recognize themselves as monsters?
4
Thank you for Senators Collins, McCain for your commitment to the American people and Senator Paul for your stubbornness. I know Senator Sherrod Brown would have and will if necessary vote against this monstrous bill. However, my other senator Rob Portman has said nothing and would and will most likely vote for harming or destroying the healthcare of thousands of Ohioans and taking medicaid money from our state. I have seen who his donors are and I know to whom he owes his seat in DC. His constituents in Ohio rank on the list of his concerns after those who give him the big bucks. Our Senate, except for a few ladies and gentlemen with a conscience, is a deep and fetid swamp. Shame on you all for the harm you see to do our country and its citizens in the name of your own greed.
1
Every time one of the GOP's pathetic attempts to destroy the ACA came to a vote, Ohio Senator Rob Portman voted party over country. He did so as a comfortable, entrenched incumbent who won a new six-year term in 2016 and thus, presumably, could have voted his conscience.
Portman is no dummy, like most of his GOP Senate colleagues. He knows the major issues confronting this nation backwards and forwards. Yet, sadly, he shares with his fellow Republicans (with a few notable exceptions) a fatal political and moral flaw: he has no courage.
Writ large, Portman's cowardice in the face of incontrovertible facts, reflects the failure of the Republican Party to govern in the interests of the people it supposedly represents. The lot of them need to be voted out of office.
5
"Bill Cassidy, MD"??
What irony. Is not the primary oath of a medical doctor "first, do no harm"?
Here is a bill opposed by all major medical organization, that will lead to millions going uninsured and negatively impact the quality of health care in this country. How can ANYONE in good conscience vote for this?
It is a national embarrassment that the US, a wealthy country by any standard, cannot rouse legislative support for universal health care and universal education.
164
What about Tom Price, MD, the HHS Secretary? Not only does he want to take health care away from millions, he's been flying around in jets at taxpayer expense --and has recently come under scrutiny for this. I don't know who I am more upset with--these morally bankrupt people in the Trump administration--or the people that put them in office. We need to vote them out in 2018 and 2020!!
That scrambled mess that was offered up as a health care bill was a contemptuous slap in the face to Americans from their GOP overlords. I don't know how these people can look their own families in the face. Just repulsive political creatures with no moral core.
8
So once again Senate Republicans appear destined to walk blindly into a wall, fall on their faces and accidentally do the right thing. I find it amazing that only three among them seem to care at all about the health and welfare of the people who elected them. Even with a majority in both houses of Congress Republicans are unable to faithfully represent their constituent's best interests.
How pathetic, sad and depressing it is to be a citizen of the US in the age of Trump.
64
BLINDLY?
They know exactly what they are doing. Billionaires fund this party, and the GOP intends to give them another tax cut.
How? By not funding medical care for fellow Americans.
It's as clear as the rising sun.
5
A very good point - their actions are despicable but are in fact not done blindly.
The GOP had 7 years to "craft" a better health care law than the admittedly flawed ACA. They never even tried to do so, focusing instead on repeal only. Let's see some Republicans sit down and try to write a HEALTH CARE system that helps people in general, rather than a tax break for the wealthy who can afford health care out of their own pockets. The lack of interest, compassion, and intelligence seen so far in the full on Republican rule is amazing. Also sickening. Who would gain by the bills they have presented? The insurance industry might charge higher rates, but lose a large number of customers who can't afford their product.
24
The GOP reform was crafted and implemented in Massachusetts under one Mitt Romney's direction, many years ago.
When much the same reform was implemented nationally by Democratic votes and an African-American president, it became toxic. The Obamacare toxin severely inflamed pre-existing conditions of cynicism and myopia among Republicans.
The sooner this gang adjourns the safer we all will be.
Thank you Susan Collins for standing up to your beliefs and not being pressured by the other Republicans. Its about time that the Congress members get the same insurance that the rest of us get.....why do they deserve better policies?
38
If we had people of intellect in the Congress, rather than the wealthy buffoons that now rule the hallowed halls, the solution would be simply, and implemented years ago.
It is pretty clear that in 21st century America the vast majority believe that ALL People should have viable healthcare.
As soon as one stakes out this position, OBAMACARE becomes untenable, since, it is based on an INSURANCE Model, and INSURANCE is not going to cover everyone.
To many double digit IQ folks, and almost all of the Congress, well I guess that is the same thing, think "insurance" and pre paid is the same thing. Wrong.
We need to go to a Medicare system, scrap all individual premiums, raise taxes, and make the corporations pay into the system. Medicare, and in my case, TRICARE, have worked well.
This is soo simple.
20
True. Graham may talk about "federalism" rather than "socialism" but the one insurance program with which the insured are routinely satisfied with is Medicare. Does anyone want to be part of a dog-eat-dog capitalist system when it comes to their own health? In truth, the GOP wants a system that has REAL death panels -- lack of medical care, suffering and death, bankruptcy due to your bank accounts.
Seems as though everytime the bill is not signed the news never fails to say it's fate is sealed yet it keeps popping up...
5
Oh, how courageous be the Republicans. After John McCain gave this latest draconian Republican "health" care bill a thumbs down, now other Republicans on the fence are joining in. Still waiting for the Senator from Alaska, but it's good to see the Senator from Maine on board the "No" train. My problem with all this is: what took you so long? Yes, I understand the machinations of politics, holding one's cards close to your vest, but what was there to know about this bill that could not be ascertain by taking the time required to read and see that it was as plain as the nose of your face: it is terrible, a atrocious attempt to destroy the ACA not make it better. Republicans I fear perish at the thought that if they actually worked with the Dems they could carve out a compromise which the label "new and improved" could be added to the ACA, just like any product promoted by the madmen on Madison Avenue.
Why is this not being the tact Republicans, who are in control mind you, are willing to take? Because it has President Obama's name on it. Because just like Trump's racist rants in Alabama he has a hate for President Obama which is evident. Trump's sole purpose as president has been to remove all remnants of President Obama's legacy. For those upset with that, and who didn't get out to vote for Hillary, then sorry but shame on you. There was no doubt where the candidates stood. Those caught up in the cult of personality got played.
DD
Manhattan
15
She is my Senator and I couldn't be prouder. I also would like to say that I hear many people say that when they call their Senators or Congress people they can't ever speak to a real person. I call Collins' office a lot and I always get the phone answered by a staffer who listens politely (and I speak my piece politely because they ARE so polite and good).
Collins is a class act.
46
We need more senators like Susan Collins!
1
We have 48 of them; they're called "Democrats."
I know there's a case for a Profile in Courage for Susan Collins. But the astounding aspect is Graham, totally vacuous on health care, no record, then neophyte, Cassidy, a physician but the entire universe of medical opinion aligned against him, the immensity of Cassidy's lies or is it only sheer stupidity? Yes, we can relie on the two former Confederate states and their white boy senators, two states with the most appaling statistics, whether infant, child, maternal mortality, life expectancy. Two states that despite some courage the Mayor of New Orleans are still frightening for their embrace of an unhinged, deranged, racist notion of this republic.
21
I don't trust Rand Paul or Ted Cruz . I see them changing their minds at the last moment
15
There won't be a vote until they have the votes. If they never get the numbers, they don't hold the vote. John McCain took them by surprise last time.
Rabid Republican partisanship seems almost schizophrenic. GOP support of legislation they have not even read really undermines what little credibility they have. Failure to reign in the wayward POTUS is bad enough. But endangering the lives of millions for the party's sake borders on criminal malfeasance.
25
We would call a foreign group advocating policies causing thousands of American deaths and doubling the rate of bankruptcies due to medical bills -- terrorists.
Here we have the GOP ready and willing to let us die. Death panels: ruling by the size of your bank account.
How many more dirty tricks will these louts in the GOP try to pull? Apparently as many as they can dig out of the barrel.
Glad to see McCain doing the right thing. But Susan Collins is the bigger hero in this instance by not being snookered in by Cassisdys lies and bribes. Hopefully Lisa Murkowsky follows suit.
The sweetened pot for AZ, AK and ME would have just delayed the devastating long term impacts of this bill by their respective citizens.
As for Rand Paul, his No vote is because the bill isn't draconian enough.
Republican leaders only wanted to repeal....period! That is why they can't come up with a replacement that can stand scrutiny in the light of day.
Vote these vampires out of office so they can take their zombie healthcare bill with them.
20
She's a legislative hero. Brava, Sen. Collins!
21
The 48 Democrats who have clearly and emphatically rejected the monster from the beginning are heroes.
1
What amazes me is that so many Republican senators support such a terrible and harmful piece of legislation. The GOP should be thrown out of power.
15
Could the NYT provide a full listing of the Senators who stand in favor of this bill? That list should be committed to memory and used to haunt them in all future endeavors.
11
Just pull up a list of Republican senators and subtract McCain and Collins. Hopefully there will be at least 1 more but commit those 2 names to memory and vote out the rest.
Rand Paul is on the right side for the wrong reasons. Lisa Murkowski is probably a "no" as well.
Northeast Republicans used to be some of the most thoughtful people in government. Javits. Case. Weicker. Etc. It is good that in Senator Collins, they are not quite extinct at a time when we desperately need sense in Washington.
13
Don't forget Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont
Thank you John McCain and Susan Collins. And thank you to our great deal making, empty headed, heartless President, the Dishonorable Kim Jong-Don for not being able to make a deal that would have harmed millions of Americans.
6
What have they actually done this year?
3
And yet again, we see the GOP trying to ram through a bill that had virtually NO committee review; NO chance of offering suggestions or (God Forbid) amendments to improve it; NO full review by the CBO
Thanks republicans........
Once again, showing America that even with a majority in both houses of Congress and a willing patsy in the White House that You Can Not Govern.
11
By disallowing our elected officials of other parties from participating in legislation, the GOP has disenfranchised the majority of the electorate (who vote Dem.)
We are no longer a democratic republic if we no longer have democracy. (The Constitution mandates consensus legislation.)
Not sure which is worse, a real estate guy with multiple bankruptcies as president, or two senators who left their lucrative callings to go to D.C. and play mean and greedy politician.
7
Looks like out-and-out bribery didn't work on Senator Collins. Shows she's got at least a sliver of an altruistic streak in her.
As for Bill Cassidy, as an M.D. he deserves even more opprobrium than his Republican colleagues for seeking to foist this hideous excuse health insurance onto sick patients.
18
It's actually Rick Santorum's idea - just to show you what a joke it is.
Can our Republican friends be more shrewd to oppose Obamacare? Instead of saying ‘repeal and replace ‘ Obamacare they should brand it differently, ‘Trumpcare v2.0’.
Trumpcare sounds more palpable:). It will definitely attract core Trump supporters and soothe the itching with Trumpcare balm!
Let’s make Trumpcare great again!
1
Thank you, thank you, Senator Collins!
12
I hope Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) comes out publicly and announces that she’ll vote no on revised Graham-Cassidy bill, too, because I don't trust Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to vote no. He may go back on his word of not supporting the bill, then vote yes, perhaps a republican plot conspired between Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell to deceive the projected no vote count. Mitch McConnell is a habitual liar, racist, and spiteful person (think President Obama and Merrick Garland).
Remember, three republican no votes kill the bill. Senators John McCain and Susan Collins won’t go back on their word to vote no, but Rand Paul, a Mitch McConnell lackey, probably will.
Please, Senator Murkowski, come forward and say you’ll vote no.
19
I expect all of the other Republican Senators are greatly relieved...
8
Exactly. The correct outcome with none of the blame.
To those questioning how and why the donors and others in the 1% can be so greedy: they place value on how much a person earns. That is, they believe that a hedge fund manager making millions per year is inherently worth more to American society than say a teacher making $50,000. It doesn't matter to these people how good a person is or how noble their profession is. If you don't have enough money to pay for your own health care, then you're of no worth to America. Read Jane Mayer's book Dark Money, and her article on Bob Mercer.
10
The wealthy Republicans who think they don't need gov't money in their health care are ignorant narrowminded users of a system that has been built and bankrolled by public funds from the beginning of vet care and professional med schools.
today, the system of fine hospitals, professional training and medical advances relies on the infusion of federal and state spending. Take that away and see how quickly the equipment in the operating room becomes outdated.
1
I find it somewhat sad and a little frustrating when we have to as citizens THANK a member of the senate for making a moral decision that would be in their constituents best interest. We're thanking senators McCain and Collins like they are somehow the saviors of the healthcare system when they just jumped off the repeal bandwagon because they realized no one was following it. We as a country have gotten so enamored with this idea that fixes can be quick and working together is wrong because the other side is wrong that our democracy is stuck in no mans land. Both side are dug in so much that when ever one or two people try to cross they are stopped immediately. We've failed as a country because we've let our personal vices and need for immediate gratification overtake our sense of reason. Rather than realize from history that our great experiment is an ever evolving one because we are a welcoming and inclusive society, instead we have focused on closing it and stopping it because it's scares some people who are going to get left behind because of their values. But as history has shown in our country you grow as an individual or you get left behind. Clinging to old ways in our country is like struggling in quick sand. The more you struggle the quicker you die. Trump was elected because a small part of our population was angry and they feel left behind. We have to decide whether that was the country leaving them behind or them choosing to stay in their trench.
5
We've gotten to the point where three of 52 representatives of the majority party make news for NOT voting in favor of a measure that would deny health coverage to millions of Amaercans. Thank god for the three; shame on the 49.
5
Well, we will just have to let the ACA fraud foisted on America collapse and then maybe somebody will get the government out of the healthcare business. Anytime you have a system where people think a service is free because "insurance pays" , the costs will be out of control, the system overused and efficiency vanish. I'm sick of Washington politics , I say lets fire 75% of all Washington federal employees, eliminate 75% of government functions, and move the rest to Minot, ND. Government is the problem.
2
So Houston is refusing federal disaster assistance?
1
Uhm James - outside of outright fraud, Medicare is a model for "free" healthcare and controlled costs - the current high cost of healthcare is not the fault of the Government, it is the fault of the insurance companies and unbridled medical providers and manufacturers.
I say you move to a country that functions that way--no services in return for taxation, no social safety net, where "government" is only for friends and family: Somalia, Honduras, Russia. Oh, wait, I see you're from Houston, where state and local governments refused to invest money on city redevelopment that would minimize the devastation of flooding from natural disaster. How's that working out?
1
I have a question. Would republicans find ACA more palatable if the employer mandate was optional and replaced by a stronger individual mandate with better subsidies? Would that work economically? I think the small businesses get upset because of the financial and even more maybe -- the administrative burden that falls on them.
1
No. They would only find it "more palatable" if a White man had come up with it (the way they did when it was Mitt Romney's health care in MA).
The ACA is based upon a creation of the Heritage Foundation. Even that doesn't do it for them.
If the Republicans in Congress were truly serious about health care reform, they would focus on letting the bipartisan approach being taken by Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, instead of continually trying to force through these various unappealing versions that require all of the Republicans in the Senate to approve. But, I guess they really don't care about what the bill contains, they just want to kill Obama's legacy. Please senators, do your jobs, for the American people, not simply pander to the faithful.
6
When one considers this charade on Capitol Hill, one is left wondering whether parliamentary democracy is even worth saving. The bill was hastily cobbled together with no real thought about the policy implications. It was tinkered with simply to try to gain one or two more votes. Veteran lawmakers have been quoted as saying that it doesn't really matter what's in the bill, we just need to pass it to please our voters (read donors).
The Republicans have had eight years to come up with a real alternative to Obamacare. They obviously have spent no time whatsoever doing what public servants and statesmen are supposed to do -- that is, craft intelligent legislation. They have simply played the issue for propaganda purposes and sought to please some of their big money donors.
Obamacare is flawed. This is not the way to fix it. The whole business since January has been shameful.
5
They never wanted to replace it. That's their real problem.
@Vivien: I agree.
Hey progressives. Don't cheer yet about Health Care. I don't trust these Republican partisans for one minute. They'll be back.
5
To GOP Senators, re your latest "Health Care" Bill: Why is something that is so clear so hard for you to comprehend? Patients, patient advocacy groups, physicians, hospital organizations, state Medicaid administrators, and private insurers all hate this bill. Why? Because what the GOP has demonstrated time and again with these so-called "health care" plans is that you simply do not care about Americans. Content of the bill matters. Given how heavily this (and your other "health care" frauds) legislation abuses millions of Americans, it is not a stretch to say that the GOP actually hates Americans (except, of course, those who can give you > $100K campaign donations). You call what you do public service? How is it possibly public service to willfully decimate the health of the least among us, including children with inherited conditions like muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. I've asked before and I'll ask again--who are you people that you vote to intentionally damage the health of many Americans? Better stop, find a mirror, and look yourself in the eyes and ask, what kind of person am I that I am fighting for the rich donors and against average Americans. Just try to find some integrity; maybe you once had it but it's apparently become buried in greed and hate.
2
It is hardly time for people reading this article to be celebrating. Senate Republicans are one vote shy of the simple majority needed under the rules to pass this despicable bill (or any of the earlier iterations). Next year at this time they'll have the votes they need, depending upon how much longer McCain survives.
3
Will this national healthcare nightmare ever be over?
Why is the so-called Grand Old Party so adamant to hurt 90 percent of the people? Who are they protecting? Not the public!!
5
It is always nice to see small slices of courage in a mainly dysfunctional legislative branch in the here and now. The "greatest debating society" of our time has forgotten its legacy and at least for now, three senators have not forgotten what it means to have courage even if they do so for different reasons. Praise to all three!
Maybe it is time for simplicity and a lean into the simple idea that whatever health coverage the Congress deems is adequate for them is the same one they accept for the American people. If it is worth funding for them why not all of us? Doing so would be the type of courageous action that seems to no longer occupy the space between the ears of many in our no longer storied Congress.
78
It's hard to allow debate when even the GOP can find no redeeming virtues in their bill. As Grassely said, there are 10 good reasons not to consider this bill and only one reason to: they campaigned on it for years.
But -- the GOP campaigned on "Repeal and Replace" and their bills have been primarily focussed on "Repeal" only. That eliminates the one remaining reason for any GOP Senator to vote for this bill.
Even after knowing well the doomed fate of the ACA repeal bill if the Republicans are pushing again and again the measure to face yet another setback and humiliation, they must surely be up to some undisclosed legislative mischief, such as planning for reconciliation during the budget presentation.
1
Senator Susan Collins for President! She stands alone for her independence, depth of thought, clear reasoning and expression, and wide administrative and legislative, having a record of more than 6,000 votes. She doesn't dishevel or deflect, but speaks directly about issues with honesty, examples, and key details.
I would gladly lead South Carolina Democrats for Susan Collins! She could easily beat Trump or Pence in every state primary in 2020. She would not engage in personal attacks or make policy on twitter!
11
You should check her sorry voting record. She voted nearly 100% with her party for every destructive idea it wanted.
As soon as McCain retires and they have a budget they can use Reconciliation rules on, the Republicans will be back at it with another legislative atrocity. We probably have only a year's respite from this idiocy.
29
Why would he retire? And if anyone can beat gliablastoma, it's John McCain.
1
That's why Dems need to get some decent candidates lined up for November 2018.
I don't have much hope though. Too many "low info" Americans out there.
3
Unfortunately, that is true. Too many Americans fail to educate themselves on the issues and think Fox News is the real deal.
The republicans care only that they have a win on the books. Whether they help their constituencies is immaterial. Thank you, Susan Collins.
57
CNN held a great health care debate last night. Cassidy's arguments in favor are just not credible. We've lived through block granting before. It doesn't give people more "choice", because there is less money when you a state gets a set amount based upon a "formula", a word he used as though it were an epithet. They also kept bandying about the word "socialism" to describe any effort at reform or Bernie's Medicare for All. Neither Canada nor Great Britain can be described as "socialist". People just want health care. The Republicans just want a tax cut for the wealthy. Obama delivered. They haven't. Now they need to fix, not dismantle. Forget about the twittering Turnip. Think about the American people for a change.
51
There is no "fix" for Obamacare -- in the end, everything that pays tens of billions of dollars directly to insurance corporations in the form of subsidies is not "helping" the people of the USA. The taxpayer basically picks up the bill for everyone's end-of-life care, after the corporations drive 600,000 people a year into medical bankruptcy. 4/5 people in nursing homes are charity cases -- paid for by Medicaid after they no longer had any money for "health care insurance." Right now 130 million people are covered by some form of federal health care -- Medicare, Medicaid or Healthy Children. We simply need to expand who can sign up for Medicare and be finished with these blood-sucking health insurance corporations. Medicare has 9% administrative costs -- the insurance industry spends a minimum of 20% of everyone's premium on administrative costs (some as much as 40 and 50%.) They do not add anything to the quality of our health care. They only take away money that should be paid out to actual medical providers. Their money goes to $100 million a year CEO's and massive TV advertising. What a waste -- and this is a big reason why Americans pay 50% higher health care costs of everything from prescription drugs to hospital stays. It's all wrapped up in paperwork, aimed at denying claims to boost investment profits, and aimed at cancelling non-profitable policies so the federal government programs can pick up end-of-life care.
1
It's now crystal clear. There are moderate Republicans. It is also crystal clear that there are no moderate Democrats. I cannot recall a bill, supreme court case or law where a key Democrat reached across the isle or voted against their party's demands.
In the past 4 years we have had Supreme court GOP appointees uphold Obamacare, gay marriage and racial preferences in college admissions. And now Collins, McCain, etc. on health care. Show me bipartisanship from the liberals....somewhere.
1
Of course, the Democrats have been begging the Republicans to work with them to improve the ACA....gay marriage is approved of by a wide majority of Americans, and all you have to do is look at what happened after the Supreme Court nullified parts of the Voting Rights Act to understand why affirmative action remains necessary...These are not "liberal" positions. They're moderate stances aiming at fairness ....So great, two republicans decide not to vote for this shameful bill that the GOP wants to pass without hearings to meet a deadline, and one opposes it because it isn't nasty enough, and this is your argument that the party is flexible?
2
Remember the Republicans were the party of "No" under Obama. The ACA is a conservative compromise. How's that for bipartisanship. Now two senators and McConnell try to push through a horrible bill that even their own party hasn't had time to read, without allowing the CBO the time to score it. Let alone allowing input from anybody else, except their 1% donors. How's that for bipartisanship. Oh, and I have a nice bridge to sell you...
3
You've got a point. But, Roberts, Bush's choice, was the deciding vote in the SC decisions on same sex marriage and the ACA. The GOP bills on healthcare failed because they were atrocious.
I am sure there are several, maybe many, more Republican Senators who, if they had the guts, would vote "no." Continued blind party loyalty out of fear of the party leadership will destroy our democratic system.
37
John McCain and other Senators have honorably fought the battle of honor, for ourselves and our posterity ensuring protecting the common welfare and domestic security for Authentic Citizens of The United States. What public representative can vote against providing health care to the least while endorsing greater rewards for the wealthiest? Christ (ians) must read Mathew, Mark, Luke and John to see what Jesus would have said. "Jesus appeared in another form unto two of them and said, They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
6
What will it take to sweep Congress clean in 2018?
Candidate Trump is a twit who tweets. What will it take to fill the Presidency with a President? That man has diminished the stature of the office.
25
The answer to your first question, money. Lots of it. The faux populist billionaires will be spending like drunken sailors to keep or increase their bought pols in DC.
Thank you Senator McCain and Senator Collins for your opposition to this shameful Bill. As for you Senator Paul I hope the next time you are up for reelection your constituents wise up and vote you out of office. You are a disgrace to your position.
25
As to the promise the Republicans made during the election, this bill is not even close to what Trump promised. I went back and read what he said, and this is not it. So even if this passed it would not be keeping the promise made to voters. Classic bait and switch with terrible consequences.
20
Thank you Senator Collins, God bless you. Now, lets reach across the aisle and tune up the Affordable Care Act. Lets make it work for all Americans.
15
Good for her - she's a hero, standing against these almost uniformly evil, compassionless legislators. The only people they represent are the wealthy. Which is not to say they don't successfully fool many of the poor, because they certainly do.
I'm all for replacing the ACA with solid single-payer. Until then, we need improvement, not erosion, of this important step forward in making health care available to the less fortunate.
24
Just about everyone did not want this effort to succeed. With premiums going up, businesses didn't want it, major health insurers didn't want it, a majority of American people didn't want it, so we have to ask ourselves why did these two senators bring this all back up.
If it was all about the conservative promise to dismantle Obamacare, then it seems, Republicans have not learn that Americans have had enough of the old conservative agenda of hate, division, and lies.
Americans have enough of that with Trump in office.
16
recent reporting shows that the reason this health care debacle was again brought up was because the Republicans see their donations drying up. From the grass roots to the billionaires, donors are fed up with a party that controls ALL branches of govt. but cannot deliver on the one issue they all said they would repeal on day one. Even Mitt Romney was pledging to get rid of "Obamacare" on day one. This is nothing new, this is what ALWAYS happens when Republicans run the show. Yet, no one seems to remember that on Election Day.
1
“But they were never able to formulate a replacement that was both politically and substantively viable.”
Seems that hand jamming stealth legislation, do or die deadlines, and total disregard for majority American concerns regarding the state of the nation’s fractured healthcare system are the norm.
Not at all unlike so much else that does not get done in flummoxed Washington — the outstanding to do list obstinately persists to the utter shame of the Congress and the current administration.
This is not just a Trump and GOP problem, it is about a nation profoundly divided and thereby paralyzed.
This is the quintessential national crisis that shows no signs of being addressed or resolved to the certain peril of the country.
6
I have gone over and over again and again why they seem so determined to pass 'legislation' which their constituents resoundingly do not want, which is, in effect, detrimental to the lives and well being of all Americans and the only thing I come up with is that they have sold their souls or Trump has something on them. Regardless, they are lower than him, in their support of his desire to undermine everything this country has built.
They have demonstrated complete disregard for all that we value in this country and each and every one of its citizens. Because they no longer represent us, they represent Trump, as he holds something on each and every one of them. Cheers to Ms. Collins and others, who have the moral courage to stand up to him!
Remember this when you cast your votes. Is he/she only interested in serving Trump or doing the job he/she was ELECTED to do? If your answer is 'no' then your vote is clear.
5
According to the article, "Insurers, hospitals, doctors and patient advocacy groups assailed the proposal, as did the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel."
Suddenly Jimmy Kimmel sets health care policy?
13
Lucky thing, too. Thanks Jimmy.
5
If a reality show tv personality can be put into office (not elected as he was certainly not the choice of the majority of Americans) and make decisions that effect our every day live, why not a late show talk host using his microphone to weigh in (hardly setting policy) on these issues?
4
Kimmel holds the highest office in the land: citizen.
6
I'm glad it failed again. But from a competence perspective, I have to ask (again), why the Republicans weren't holding serious and sincere hearings, and writing this/a/any bill over the last seven years?
They whined, and voted on essentially nothing, for all these years, rather than govern. And now, when to their horror they find themselves almost totally responsible for governing, we all are reminded that they cannot govern, they can only whine.
21
Our expectations bar is set so dismally low for Republicans that when one acts rationally we fall all over ourselves with praise.
That's the problem.
The GOP will continue to march in lockstep on its road of grim intentions. It is willing to deprive fellow Americans of health care to gift billionaires another tax cut.
It's a sordid war of attrition, and it's still winning.
10
That party has mutated into the party of greed, sadism, soulless hypocrisy and treason. My Republican ancestors would have set their dogs on them.
Senator McCain and Senator Collins are exemplary leaders. I for one am grateful that both of them are currently serving in the Senate. Although I do not always agree or align with their political perspectives, I observe and recognize that both of them use intelligence and take the time to reflect on what is best for the American People, all the people. They are not motivated by ego or insatiable greed because they can't be bought or scammed. They actively serve the people of this country unlike most of their peers who seem to view their position as a "game" and channel to further their own self-interest. Thank you, Senator McCain and Senator Collins.
7
This picture says it all.
Bravo Senator Susan Collins for your display of integrity and the backbone of 'doing the right thing.'
I send a heart-felt thank you.
14
Well, most of the commentators in this piece forget how we got here. The Democrats passed Obamacare in the middle of the night, unread, with no debate, and not one Republican supporting it. No one has yet figured out how to pay for it other than chest beating and rending of clothes seems to be the best defense to keep it and calling anyone who disagrees with them racists or anti-poor. I doubt anyone in Congress has read it or understands the mess they have gotten us into. The only thing we can count on going forward is a lot of noise from both sides and no action whatsoever.
John, that's nonsense. The Democrats held numerous hearings and incorporated dozens of Republican amendments. The ACA itself is based on a conservative design, implemented first by Mitt Romney in Massachussets. We need to repair and improve on the ACA instead of throwing it out and pushing millions of Americans out of their health insurance. The end goal should be universal coverage like in every developed country, for half the price and better health outcomes.
The Democrats passed the ACA in broad daylight, after months of debate, and with everyone who cared to having read it. Stop lying.
Stop lying.
Stop lying.
1
Meanwhile in case you missed it - (September 7, 2017), the Republican controlled US House of Representatives, the flag waving bearers of small government and less regulation, the supporters of states' rights (at least when it comes to healthcare and healthcare insurance) unanimously approved a sweeping proposal to speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls by putting federal regulators in the driver's seat and barring states from blocking autonomous vehicles.
The House measure, the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year.
Republicans are always looking out for the best interests of the people who elected them, big business!
3
The combination of computer-driven cars with the inevitability of a Carrington Event is the most promising population control mechanism we've yet designed. And it will be a boon to funeral homes.
Call me skeptical, but I can't relax till October 1. Rand Paul is fully capable of voting 'yes' on this. Hopefully, if that should appear likely, Sen. Murkowski will vote her conscience.
11
It is so ludicrous to have to cite our elected officials for being decent caring human beings who are looking out for the welfare of the population of the United States.
6
It took 60 votes to enact Obamacare, but under the "budget reconciliation rules" just 50 votes would kill it. Republicans will continue changing the rules trying to get the result they want. The only way to stop these people is to replace them with Democrats.
10
Thank God some Republicans came to their senses.
Now can we get to bipartisan legislation to repair what already is in the books instead of trashing the ACA and leaving millions without healthcare protection, please.
9
If this (fifth) Republican health care bill was honestly good for a majority of Americans, then more than 50 Senators would vote in favor of it, regardless of political afiliation.
It's really that simple.
I hope voting Americans will remove these "party over country" Congressional representatives in the next election!!!
7
"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." Oscar Wilde
I say that Wilde has the Republicans figured out perfectly (more than a century in advance.)
5
All Americans must have the very same medical coverage American congressional women and men have. Now!
18
Or, all congresspeople may only have, and at their own expense, the worst coverage they deem acceptable for all other Americans.
Talk about being out of touch with reality.
You have to love the GOP Senators hubris!
4
Sadly, I'm not surprised. This is the logical conclusion of the repubs 'position' since Obama was elected. Tho perhaps not racists themselves, they need the votes of the racist fringe. That's how 'code' works, and they've perfected the technique. Did they say anything when 'tea party' zealots displayed blatantly racist posters of Obama? No ... 'You Lie' ... Gingrich calling Obama 'food stamp president' ... Oldest game in town. How does it connect to health care? After 7 years they do not have a real plan. The idea of allowing states to work out the details is more kicking the can, and we're out of road. It's all in the name. 'Repeal and replace Obamacare'. They don't want to fix it, build on it, work with the dems. They want to replace it. With 'what' is not important. The important thing is they want to remove Obama from history, from memory. Sounds extreme, but these are desperate times. Sadly, it's all they have. When will their voters figure out they've been had? And Trump has their number; He turned their primaries into an adolescent shoving match, which they lost. His trip to Alabama is not about the two candidates, it's about him. The NFL issue came along, so it's another campaign rally for donnie and the loud 35% ... Just to remind the repubs to skulk back to their place. When you give up on integrity, you cannot ever get it back.
12
It's a bad bill and good riddance, but we can't have universal medical care and massive immigration (legal and illegal) at the same time. You can only steal so much money from the productive members of society to give to the less productive, as California will rapidly learn.
2
Nonsense. First of all, we don't have massive immigration, and second, those who need medical care and are uninsured, go to emergency rooms who cannot turn them away. We are already paying for their medical care, and much more than in a universal cost-controlled system like so many other developed countries have, many with a much higher percentage of immigrants. And yes, the young, elderly and sick are less productive - you mean we do not have an obligation to care for them? We all end up elderly and/or sick sometime...
10
Anna---Their families have an obligation to take care of them.
Driven: My extended family living on the land in the fifties could do that, but I am not able to pay for my mom's nursing home care and my sister's cancer treatment on my nice but not excessive salary (not that I have to, but this could well be a scenario under what you propose). Of course I could take my dementing mom in, in my one bedroom apartment, but then I'd have to give up my job and lose that apartment...
Thinking about this, especially from the standpoint of the most recommended comments, the person who is coming off of this looking the most despicable, is Lindsay Graham. He was swayed to support this by whom, again? Certainly not by any humane, Christian values. Certainly not by any Republicans who had their own rational self-interests in mind. Certainly not by the vast majority of Americans. His motives could not have been other than craven, immoral pandering to the Kochs, and Mercers of the world. Shame on him.
8
My guess: Graham is already worried about his chances in the 2020 election. He's been a frequent critic of Trump on the GOP side, and he has made himself deeply unpopular with South Carolina Trump supporters. Google the (Columbia, SC) State article "SC’s Lindsey Graham among least popular senators, new poll says." He may think his name on this (horrible) bill is a step toward turning things around, giving him something to point to in 2020. Obviously, he could point to it as an effort to wipe away Obama's legacy -- but also, SC has historically been sympathetic to the idea of states' rights -- I'm not sure about Graham's history with this idea, but it probably plays well in his home state.
In the photo depicting Mr. Cassidy, it appears that he has a work related stress headache. He should take some strong pain pills… He's been working his brain too hard to try to do as his master beckons
3
Can hardly wait to see trumps tweets claiming victory. Don't know how Sarah Sanders of the Huckabee clan sleeps at night after declaring ACA the work of the devil!
5
The spineless lot of Republicans are grateful for McCain, Collins and Paul. They must have sweat bullets until McCain gave thumbs down on the last vote. They can claim they voted for R&R without being stuck with really doing so. Long live Obamacare. That keeps them in office.
2
There are 2 GOP NO's. Do not trust Rand Paul. He will get his 15 minutes out of this than vote the party line just like last time. The blatant and shameful bribery attempt against Murkowski may be successful. This is a long way from dead.
6
Throw in a coupla Cessna 207s, a year's supply of ice fishing gear and a pack of Siberian sleddogs, and I think Murkowski may sign on. ;->
2
So, Murkowsky and Capito were promised some extra fun by the Republican men in the Senate ? What do these two female senators see in the Cassidy-Graham thing that they didn't see before when they were objecting to earlier murder attempts ?
4
Thankyou John McCain and Susan Collins you are really saviors to millions of Americans who are ill. Senator Graham and Cassidy you should be roundly criticized for trying to ram a bill through our government that harm the si k.You will be sick too some day and maybe then you will change your views.
2
Dear Senators, please tell us "why" you want to repeal the ACA. Put on your big boy pants and spell it out. Why have you brought this up 60+ times and tried to replace the ACA with monstrous legislation that would cut affordable healthcare for tens of millions and allow employers to drop coverage and force their employees to seek coverage through the open market.
15
Because they are in the pocket of their ultra rich donors who want a healthy young subservient and compliant workforce who won't use much health insurance. The sick, elderly and poor are unproductive and cannot be exploited anymore, and therefore should be gotten rid of as quickly as possible, and lack of health care will help accomplish that goal if they cannot afford to buy adequate health insurance on the open market. For the ultra rich donors, people are just means of production. If they don't produce anymore, they should be written off instead of being a tax burden. Not that the Senators will say so, but that's exactly how unconscionable robber barons like the Mercers, Mnuchins, Trumps, Kushners, Shkrellis and Kochs think about the common American. Not to speak of the Russion oligarchs they do business with.
2
45 and the Republicans have done more to keep Obamacare in the news by their repeated failed attempts to replace it.
Just give it up already and rename it something else. You would think that someone would have come up with that brilliant idea.
Of course for me, I love anything that keeps Obama around.
10
Talk about Groundhog Day all over again. Haven't we already read this story a few times?
6
GOP and Trump
Fairus.org is funded by the Russians
Kushner and Trump use private emails in the White House
5
What the heck took so long for this "heroine" of the last debacle. It didn't need more than a day to scream NO.
7
I agree. She's a fake "moderate." She wants to be governor of Maine so she needs to give the illusion of caring.
The same old GOP song and dance.
1
She said from the beginning that she was leaning no but would wait for the CBO score. It was issued yesterday.
She waited until her party offered her bribes for her vote. She didn't need CBO to reject a bill worse than the previous bill she rejected.
No, I don't applaud her or any of her GOP pals, including McCain.
This monstrosity of a bill should never have been offered. Not in a civilized county.
Thank you Senator Collins and Senator McCain. You are true heroes. You are doing the Republican party a favor by killing this bill.
8
Senator Hatch actually told disabled demonstrators at the congressional hearing today to "shut up." It is tragic that a leader of the United States Senate chairing a hearing would display such callous disregard for the healthcare of fellow Americans. It is disgusting and the whole world needs to witness this shameful behavior.
18
I would counter with the idea that protests are one thing: shouting down the Senators trying to discuss this bill is another. But I guess it all depends on your point of view...
I am soon turning 65 and I have never seen such outrageous, belligerent, incomprehensible nonsense from our government than the stupidity of the republicans health care bills. Thank God for the Republicans who have the courage to stand up against it. The American people deserve protection from the rapid, flea bitten dog politicians who care not if they tear the flesh from newborns, as long as they can have their political narrow way.
13
Rushed proposals, incomplete facts and an ignorant base who bleat like sheep (four legs good, two legs better!) on command, that's hoe the ruling party tries to govern. Moral decrepitude, intellectual bankruptcy and repulsive hypocrisy are the only values of the Republicans.
16
Butch Cassidy, "M.D." There's one for ya! "What's in your wallet?" the TV ad goes... Do you suppose Butch is thinking about disease in Puerto Rico right now? Or is he thinking about "winning?" Your answer here: _____
5
I am frankly alarmed that so many senators don't seem to care that
Americans will die. Thousands. They will die needlessly. As Obama's attempts at harnessing an equitable sharing of good fortune with misfortune are now being brazenly and cruelly dismantled, I say unequivocally to McConnell and Cassidy “shame on you! You are a more than willing instruments of such heartless uncaring disregard for the well being of millions. Shame. Shame.”
....................
11
John, in case you missed it - (September 7, 2017), the Republican controlled US House of Representatives, the flag waving bearers of small government and less regulation, the supporters of states' rights (at least when it comes to healthcare and healthcare insurance) unanimously approved a sweeping proposal to speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls by putting federal regulators in the driver's seat and barring states from blocking autonomous vehicles.
The House measure, the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year.
Republicans are always looking out for the best interests of the people who elected them, big business!
Thank you John McCain and Susan Collins.
10
I still cannot understand how one single Republican, let alone 50 or 60, can vote against health care and then go to bed knowing that one single person (let alone thousands) are at that moment unable to reach out for an inhaler and breathe... let alone sleep.
30
The GOP has been the same party since 1929.
Understand now?
1
Thank you John McCain and Susan Collins for your courage to stand up to your party and vote according to your conscience!
5
While Republicans are bent on destroying the Affordable Care Act; they are also in the process of destroying the nation's Community Heath Centers which serve millions of the poorest citizens all over the nation. As of September 30th, Federal funding will expire and no one in Congress appears to have the wherewithal to pay attention.
According to the National Association of Community Health Centers (www.nachc.org):
" Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the National Health Service Corps and the Teaching Health Center programs are set to expire at the end of this month. The administration, which called for a funding extension in its FY18 budget, estimates that without Congressional action to address the health centers “funding cliff,” some 2,800 health center locations will close, more than 51,000 jobs will be eliminated, and 9 million patients will lose access to care.
These programs predate the Affordable Care Act by decades: CHIP is a Bill Clinton Administration initiative; the NHSC is a program implemented in 1972. There is a bipartisan agreement that funding needs to be restored- but action (apparently) is another matter.
12
Thank you Senator Collins!
You, Senator McCain and Senator Murkowski have saved lives by opposing your party's appalling immoral assault on the health care system.
The fact that there are so few of you good, thoughtful public servants remaining in the GOP is terrifying.
7
Naive as I was, I once believed there is something honorable about serving your country in the political arena. I knew very well that the system and people were blemished, but that did not prevent me from admiring them as they took on leadership of the ship of state -- a vessel that is never easy to sail. Alas, that respect has long since been squandered as I have watched the infantile antics of our elected representatives, with the GOP right now being the biggest clowns in the circus. You would have thought that the message that has come from the people, the various medical and hospital groupings, insurance companies, and so forth, would have told them that their healthcare dogmas lack both support and viability, although there is a lot of room for creative improvement of what we have. Thus the GOP will keep on banging their head against this brick wall. It is clear that politicians in our times seldom listen to the constituents the represent -- although they are all ears when the big donors with a specific ideological ax to grind speak. Thus respect has turned into cynicism, and a prayer that men and women of stature will return to the arena of national and international leadership.
17
Right on, Richard! Politics should not be about ideology or fixed beliefs but a rational empirical process supported by an understanding of our history our traditions and science. Attending to the needs of society is an activity that has to be learned. Can anyone say our current politicians have the understanding and initiative to meet the challenge. I don't think so. It is not extreme to say that our legislators are a preposterous collection of nincompoops.
1
No, not nincompoops, merely greedy. As long as the issue remains in play, the 'campaign contributions' roll in. Once it's decided--either way; the merits of a bill don't matter--the lobbyist dollars go away. There is NO incentive for Congress to fix this, but many millions of dollars of incentive not to.
Three Republicans exercising their ability to think, the rest continuing to posture and waste time and fail to do their jobs. I guess that is better than suceeding in passing destructive policies.
6
Dear Republican politicians,
Why are you trying so hard to hurt us?
sincerely, the tired, the poor,
the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Thanks to Emma Lazarus
8
You misunderstand, Gene.
Graham, Cassidy & Co. are not there to serve you; they're at the beck and call of the Kochs, Mercers and Adelsons of the world.
Once you accept that, their actions are completely (and deplorably) understandable.
2
Senators McCain and Collins voted the way normal, decent human beings would vote. Nothing special. It is Barack Obama who deserves my deepest gratitude. His courage, leadership and intelligence embodied in the Affordable Care Act will save tens of millions of lives in the decades to come.
18
I pray we can move on from this continuing debacle and FIX OCare - which, as you say, has saved and will save many, many lives. Obama worked what I now see as a miracle, getting this passed. And he did it in regular order and it took eighteen months. HE worked hard for it! Trump just yams away, insulting people without any knowledge of what is even IN the bill! He is the exact opposite in every way of one of the greatest presidents in American history and all Trump cares about is obliterating Obama's legacy. He's finding out how very hard that is. Thank goodness.
I so miss President Obama. He was a flawed person as we all are. But what he did to bring us back from the brink of disaster caused by Bush.......it's really amazing what he did.
1
At least some people in the Republican party aren't totally bought out.
6
Good riddance to Graham-Cassidy. A travesty of ultra partisan legislation that would deny healthcare to millions in order to fulfill outrageous promises
to the wealthy and cling obsessively to conservative dogma.
And if Republican "healthcare reform" fails most probably Republican "tax reform" fails too because money saved by reforming healthcare was supposed to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Good riddance to both. Republican "healthcare reform" and "tax reform" are just two scams Trump and the Republicans are trying to foist upon Americans. Remember the con game that was Trump University? Graham-Cassidy is more of the same. Americans should beware the arrogant bully and fraud with bad orange hair.
Graham-Cassidy is mean spirited, inhumane and totally self serving. That's the direction America is moving in with Trump in the White House. Just one more reason Trump is unfit to serve.
7
it seems that people, on both sides of the aisle, have finally come to realize just how beneficial the ACA has been and still is. Perfect? No, but repeal and replace with something "better"? No as well.
As Sen McCain and Sen Collins have said, this initiative needs a bipartisan approach, through time and proper vetting, to fix what's broken and keep Americans insured. Instead of the excuse of keeping "constituents" happy, many of whom don't have a clue as to how the healthcare system works and are actually relieved to have healthcare at all, they need to listen to those condemning this new bill, the AMA, insurers, and a myriad of others, to fix what is already in place and protect the American people.
The ACA was a "horrible" bill, in many eyes, because of how, and by whom, it was enacted. Both sides should be held accountable here for acting like spoiled children instead of the representatives of our people that they should be.
3
What's scary is the rest of the Republicans were going to go along and vote for yes for this plan. These guys are going to shoot down their own dreams. The problems for Republicans runs deep- thy just can't govern very well like the Democrats.
4
How amazing is it that so many republicans want to deny heathcare to Americans? All but three!
4
Who are the influential Republican donors whose bidding the Republicans are so eager to do with this -- or any -- repeal bill? It's bad enough that the Republican party has been bought and sold by big money, but isn't it time the details of the transaction are made public and the puppet masters are dragged out into the light of day?
19
Amen, how about the stories about big donors of GOP (think Koch brothers, to name the worst). Repeal is big on Koch brothers' to do list. Name the others. Show us how dark money operates.
2
Apart from all the negative impact mostly on the most vulnerable members of society, the bill would also have a negative impact on the labor market overall. If an employee who lives in a state with good and affordable health care coverage is asked by his/her company to transfer to a subsidiary in a state with poor and/or much more expensive coverage for their family he/she will think twice before doing so. In my view, health care should therefore be organized on a federal level.
3
I agree with you that health care should be organized on the federal level. It also, in my thinking, should be de-coupled from employers altogether. Why should employers have to deal with other people's health care? It was a stupid system to begin with. What would unleash more productivity in this country if every worker was covered and every employer didn't have to be responsible for it?
1
The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner, and should replace Obamacare with universal Medicare.
They can call it Trumpcare, and the GOP and Trump can claim the kept their promise by replacing Obamacare with something far better.
Obama and the Democrats won't mind, and will call it Berniecare.
Obamacare was always too conservative anyway, as it is a shill for the Insurance industry.
5
Kudos to Senator Collins. She is a highly principled legislator.
3
In the spirit of healthcare reform, I propose eliminating existing Federal Healthcare benefits and subsidies for all Federal workers with exception to those in armed services. Let's see what kind of healthcare plan our Representatives come up with when it's one they have to live with too.
2
Only active combat personnel should get military healthcare.
Military families overwhelmingly voted for Trump and GOP lawmakers. Let them and their spouses and kids reap the consequences right alongside the rest of us.
1
This whole charade has NOTHING to so with representing the American electorate or what's best for the country. It's all about appeasing the 1% donors who are demanding a return on their investment. The bought and paid for the politicians in the House and Senate and now they want pay back.
10
We see how an immature, poorly drafted, self-contradicting bill affecting 1/6th of the economy is shouted at the rooftops to be unworkable and irresponsible by all patient advocacy groups, by the AMA and all physician groups, by Blue Cross and the insurer associations, by patients themselves who are being dragged off Congress without their canes and wheelchairs... and still is being considered for a vote with one single sham hearing, with 5 (3 lobbyists) members of the public present... well, maybe, it's no surprise that elderly people are dying in Puerto Rico in nursing homes without AC and drinking water, water! --and no food, and no policing, or help...
From healthcare to hurricane rescue, this government has failed us.
2
Well, she proved she can't be bought on this one. The country is not as "divided" as the Republicans are unprincipled. When given the opportunity to participate in a bipartisan venture regarding health care, they chose not to because of the black man, who bent over backwards to be conciliatory to his own fault.
6
Looking at the picture accompanying this article. Is that Bill Cassidy holding his head in shame? It looks like he was about to cry. Bill Cassidy and the Lindsey Graham kid, whose dreadful bill got shot down in the end.
During the Finance Committee hearing, the disabled protesters were chanting, "No cuts to Medicaid. Save our liberty." Since I've been paying attention over the last several months, I think I know what that means. Many disabled Americans would lose their independence if they lose Medicaid coverage; not being able to pay their care providers, they would literally lose their freedom and be placed into nursing homes. In her statement, Senator Susan Collins of Maine named three major flaws in the Graham-Cassidy bill, one being the sweeping changes to Medicaid - a cut of one trillion dollars from 2020 to 2036, and putting at risk our most vulnerable citizens.
Senator Collins had all Americans in mind when she made her decision not to support the bill. Near the end of her statement, Ms. Collins spoke these words: I have to do what I think is right. I have to do what I think is right for the people of Maine and the people of this country.
49
It is most shocking from an european perspective that repuplicans not even try to pass a reasonable bill. The party just want to satisfy their donors on the back of their constituents and politicans do not even bother to cover it. The senators which resist such an irresponsible piece of legislation are the true american heroes.
34
For the fourth time this year, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing I can keep my insurance with its "low" premium of $587 a month, with a $6250 annual deductible and no prescription drug coverage - for now. But having been through this too many times this year, I'm know better than to rest easy. The GOP won't stop until it causes self-employed people like myself so much grief that being worried sick about of health insurance is considered a pre-existing condition.
21
Kudos to Senator Collins for standing up to a party leadership that has no tolerance for dissension. Kudos to her for turning down money added to this bill with the sole purpose of buying her vote. Kudos to her for standing up for all Americans, not just the rich, not just the special interests but the people most vulnerable in our society. Now if she'd like to join Senator Sanders in co sponsoring a Medicare for All single payer plan we could finally start to see some real needed reform to our broken medical services delivery system in this country. Thank you Senator Collins, Senator McCain and all the democrats for fighting for the American people.
28
It is deeply troubling to see a Democracy- the world's oldest democracy - crafting Legislation for Medicare of its people to somehow meet the objections of individual Lawmakers rather than Serving the Health Needs of its people in the Best Possible Way. The people count for Nothing in the US ?
20
I thought the tenet doctors are supposed to adhere to is "first, do no harm". Yet Cassidy was willing to bring harm to millions of Americans. Did he miss the first day of medical school?
22
It would be good if there is a genuine bipartisan participation in designing universal health care system. The problem is that the Republicans have no interest in providing universal healthcare to their constituents. They have been cunningly designing systems for getting fifty votes. if they have any conscience they would design a system which can get 70, 80, or 90 votes. They know how to do it. It will require higher taxes on the richer people. That is a bullet they do not want to bite.
13
I'm surely not the first to point out that this bang-their-heads-against-the-wall-with-futility approach is only helping edge us closer and closer to Single Payer Medicare For All.
The one thing the party DOES not want is what the people will end up clamoring for and, if the balance is tipped against said party, will become law of the land. Its the "ironic twist" at the end of this little movie.
5
Now, the Congress has an opportunity to begin the bipartisan hearings, study and debate that can lead to truly improved healthcare for all Americans.
It may take several years of work to understand what an amended healthcare law should provide. And, it may take lots of tax money to implement.
But, it will be worth it – improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our medical system, substantially reducing the likelihood of raging epidemics, improving our nutrition, and increasing our productivity if coupled with opportunities for more of us to attend classes and workshops that use improved teaching methods.
These are benefits that we all want. So now, is the time to contact all of our Senators and Representatives and urge them to get to work.
9
Thank thank you once again Sen. Collins for your personal strength and political courage in announcing your intent to vote against the latest GOP attempt to effectively eliminate the healthcare coverage for millions of needy Americans and making it prohibitively expensive for millions more. Hopefully, Sen. Murkowski will be joining you again shortly in voicing her intent to vote NO too. God bless you with good health.
11
Meh? It's come to the point that we now have to fawn over politicians for NOT shoving through legislation, crafted in secret, that will harm millions of Americans. If this woman truly had an ounce of courage she would no longer be part of the republican party. Sorry but I'll reserve my back slapping for when one of them finally says "I can no longer be part of a party that the American public needs protection from, it no longer pretends to serve the common good". THAT would be what real courage looks like.
2
Since Senator Lisa Murkowski has not yet said whether she will repeat her prior no vote, the bill's defeat assumes that Rand Paul will vote no. I do not trust Rand Paul - since he wants not a better bill, but a far more draconian one that better fits his libertarian sink-the-government ideology. His diversionary babble may merely be a ploy....
11
In scanning these comments, a lot of credit is given to Susan Collins but very little to John McCain, who has nixed the bill for the primary right reason: it's not bipartisan. America has been catastrophically divided for years now, on just about every issue; and it really started with how the ACA was rammed in 2010 by Democrats with not one Republican vote. To freeze out Democrats in ANY opposed solution is every bit as unwise as the actions of the 111th Congress.
Thank you, John McCain.
17
Per the comment that the Democrats "rammed" through the ACA without a single GOP vote--in 2008-9 the Democrat-controlled Congress spent 14 months conducting hearings and inviting input from the public, healthcare professionals, lobbying groups, patient advocates, insurance companies, et al; plus the Dems bent over backwards to address and accommodate many GOP concerns and made countless concessions--most notably taking single-payer off the table, angering many on the Left--only to have McConnell and Co. refuse to allow a single GOP vote for the final bill just to deny Obama a bipartisan win, then set about spreading lies and fear about the bill's content and intent (death panels, etc.). Compare and contrast the Democrats' efforts to this year's twin legislative travesties of Ryan's and McConnell's purely political, cynical and widely hypocritical attempts to repeal the ACA, though replace was never on their agenda--even Trump called them out repeatedly for spending over seven years, 60 votes, multiple lawsuits and other means of partisan sabotage to derail the the ACA, regardless of the negative impact on millions of Americans, without ever devising a viable plan of their own. Clearly, the GOP has never been interested in reforming healthcare, and Trump shamelessly and repeatedly lied about having a big, beautiful plan that was better and cheaper for all, though his base will never blame him for it.
36
First of all, he said he opposed it because normal process (hearings, full CBO score before the vote etc.) hasn't been followed at all and that's unacceptable when you're about to change a fifth of the world's largest economy.
It's true that normal process includes hearings where the other party can give comments and suggest amendments too.
But here's the thing: rather than ramming Obamacare through, as you say, Democrats actually did EXACTLY what McCain was saying here. Instead of switching bills every other day, they worked on one single bill for an entire year, with LOTS of hearings (most of them available on C-SPAN), AND with lots of GOP amendments included in the bill.
THAT's how you end up with a bill that all partners involved (patient organizations, doctors' organizations, hospitals, insurers etc.) fully support.
And of course the Democrats waited until the CBO had scored their bill before voting on it.
And remember, they ended up with a super-majority of 60 votes in the Senate.
So what the GOP is doing here is the exact opposite of how Democrats have worked on HC reform - and that's precisely why they and not the GOP got the job done.
By the way, McCain also said that IF GRACA would have been the result of normal process, he would have voted for it ... even though it destroys the insurance of 32 million Americans.
McCain did the right thing, but his acts are merely so extraordinary because most other GOP Senators are doing horrible things...
21
Richard, while I agree that McCain deserves credit, you keep pushing the false claim that the democrats somehow initiated the lack of cooperation between sides by "ramming" in the PPACA. As has been pointed out many, many, many times here and elsewhere, there was a year of discussion, over 100 amendments included - many from republicans, but then when it came to the final vote, the republicans wouldn't give it one vote. THAT was the start of obstruction and it was conceived by Mitch McConnell, it is him who you should be calling out, not the democrats. The game is now officially up.
To get us back to what McCain calls "normal order", McConnell needs to go. It should be obvious to even the most loyal republicans, obstruction isn't a winning strategy.
4
Collins is not really a Democrat, as some suggest. She votes in line with her party about 80 percent of the time. But her voting record shows her to be a highly principled public servant. (Note that she also broke with her party when she voted against DeVoss who was unqualified).
I can't say I'd vote for Collins but I'm mighty glad if a Democrat isn't going to hold the office that she is.
38
And the other senator is independent, who replaced Olympia Snowe. Not sure how the others who would have voted for this travesty can sleep at night but Collins will not have to worry about being the one that wants to pull th healthcare rug from underneath hundreds of citizens.
2
Trump, McConnell and Alexander violated violated their latest promises to proffer a bipartisan solution for healthcare for millions of us.
However, their sole reason for doing so, was to accommodate their large political contributors, to the detriment of us, the people.
It's sad and wrong that these Trump "swamp creatures" find that their personal financial greed is more important to them, than providing health care for millions of us.
41
Our friends to the north with socialized medicine have a lot in common with us but cannot grasp the selfishness and animosity and downright contempt Trump and his party has for the average American with regard to health care. I have said it before and it bears repeating...regardless of what it is, Donald Trump is trying to undo and reverse everything Obama has done. He claimed Obama was not born in this country and that Obama wiretapped Trump tower. It is obvious he has something against the former president and is doing what he can to undo and prevent any sort of legacy.
3
If memory serves me correctly, didn't the so-called president declare many times that he would replace Obamacare with something far, far better? To me, this sounded a bit like he actually had a plan or at least the outline of one, on the back burner ready to be trotted out and passed by a ready, willing and able senate and congress. Funny how he never told anyone about the details or even the broad strokes of his wonderful plan.... odd how that sort of thing keeps happening so many times in a row.
58
Many of us saw-through Trump's hollow promises (or as Simon & Garfunkle called them "a pocketful of mumbles", (such are promises). Trump just said whatever he felt people wanted to hear and what sounded good and some of us are a bit more idealistic than others but the cynical ones are the ones who can now say "I told you so" but the Trump apologists are very defensive and they still insist things are so much better and there is still so much potential. But clearly, nine months later, we are not better off and the world is a much more dangerous place. Portions of Puerto Rico will not see electricity restored for up to six months and our wonderful president is busy feuding with the NFL and more concerned with his image than people in need or maybe he cannot see the desperate situation they are in, or does not care. Emperor Trump!
13
Bingo. Who knew that a guy who claimed to tell it like it is would excel at the opposite?
1
So the solution is for each of the 50 states to decide what you should pay for having a heart condition, cancer, stroke, diabetes, or any other illness that is considered "pre-existing". It would seem to anyone with half a brain that having one system of health coverage would be more efficient and cost effective than having a fragmented system in which states decide your fate. I mean, cancer or a heart condition in Florida is still the same in NY, Iowa, California, or Maine. Whey do we need to make this more convoluted and costly than it has to be. Are we that stupid to not be able to see the obvious?
37
There is one key difference though: the cost of procedures varies by state, even city.
Okay, so dump it on the states? What is that called -- hot potato, pass-the-buck? What about the states that have increased their medicaid spending and if the federal contributions are reduced will have to raise state taxes? What about the four poorest (and red) states that never set up the state exchange for ACA like West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi? Oh well...What is that called - collateral damage? Probably the big issue is what the savings on health care would go to if it is not spent on health care - tax cuts and the military.
2
This GOP crass leaders should be stripped of their health care so they have a taste of their own medicine.
41
No one be fooled. Ted Cruz is not a YES vote. He teased a NO stance for publicity, hoping that in the vote, he can swoop in as savior. You can count Ted Cruz as a definite YES.
6
Yes, throughout all this, he was the one who said that the Republicans' version was too much like ACA (but they call it Obamacare because maybe it is a more negative description) and maybe did not do enough to distinguish itself from the current Obama version. This time, his hollow explanation was that the premiums were still too high. Sounds like like lot of hooey to me!
Exactly. Trying to be a right wing hero is hard work.
Republicans should feel fortunate that their "Cadillac" health plans cover migraines. Tax Reform, anyone?
9
Donald Trump and his Republican lackeys care only about winning or losing. Not one whiff of concern for the health care of the citizenry. It is appalling that we are so far gone as a nation that this is even a considered option.
27
They won't stop trying to repeal the ACA until they are voted out of office. Stay ready to resist.
39
Too many GOP senators were willing to vote for this killer of a bill.
Way too many.
39
No, Republicans are not trying because they want to realize the election promise to the general population.
They need to serve their wealthy donors (masters).
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/politics/republican-donors-obamaca...
16
Senator Cassidy should be hanging his head in shame at the abomination of a bill with his name on it. The 'new' bill revealed today is a transparent attempt to buy off pivotal Senators with more money for their states, money that would come from the funding for other states, leaving their citizens even less likely to be covered. The entire bill, the entire process, and the entire premise are a shambles of political opportunism, courting campaign donations by attempting to do what 85% of the public is against, attempting to harm the health of millions of Americans. Graham and Cassidy should be shamed for lying to the public about their bill, and shamed for abandoning any imitation of serving their constituents interests. The mercenary mercantilism of our Congress lies fully revealed by the Republicans repeated attempts to force the destruction of America's health care system on the public. Shame on them all!
42
I am all for allocating so-called block-grants in the form of states allocating funds to healthcare and corresponding credit on federal taxes. If these guys really want 'states to decide' then stop futzing with federal block grants - just RECUCE federal taxes/
What happened to Graham? He was doing so well under Trump til this.
Just watched TV every healthcare debate on CNN with Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. It's surreal listening totge Republicans try to make their awful bill sound good.
A number of people in the audience with various medical problems asked if their coverage would be guaranteed. Cassidy kept saying It's in the bill, states will make better decisions than "the guy or girl who runs Obama care."
He lied and obfuscated. But he could not guarantee they would have healthcare under his bill.
All Graham said is the government will go bankrupt under a Medicare for All policy. Another lie. He also lied when he said it's a socialist idea.
It was a little galling and disappointing that the Democrats didn't eviscerate the Republicans, which is what they deserved.
24
Well, Medicare for All is a socialist idea, just like Social Security was a socialist idea and Medicare itself for that matter.
I don't currently support Medicare for All since there's no funding mechanism and forcing some 150,000,000 Americans off their current employer-provided health insurance onto an untried government program strikes me as a highly dubious idea.
Before Social Security most Americans did not have adequate pensions and before Medicare most retirees did not have adequate health insurance.
I don't oppose it because it can plausibly be called a socialist idea. Why should I care? Social Security was and is a very good program. The fact that it was originally conceived by Socialists is of no significance to an intelligent person whatsoever.
4
In the ongoing fight for single payer in California, a Lewin Group analysis, http://www.pnhp.org/news/2005/january/lewin_group_analysis.php, found that single payer "...would save the state $343.6 billion in health care costs..." from 2006 to 2015 had then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger not vetoed the legislation.
This would have been a great point for Sanders and Klobuchar to make in showing that single payer is actually more cost effective than the current system.
Using the Lewin Group analysis I found that while I was paying approximately $14,000.00 a year for medical insurance, under the proposed single payer system the total would be approximately $5,400.00 (11.95% tax vs. the insurance company premium), returning $8,600.00 to my pocket.
The $5,400.00 would be paid for by “…an employer payroll tax equal to 8.17 percent of wages and salaries for all employees…” and “…an employee payroll tax equal to 3.78 percent of wages and salaries for all workers.”
No more for-profit insurance company premiums! It should be noted that the single payer system above provided full coverage vs. the high premium, high deductible, high coinsurance insurance company policy. A real no-brainer!
Cassidy is a doctor and that is the amazing thing. The hypocratic oath takes precedence over anything else but apparently Cassidy is a red-state Republican first and a medical doctor second.
1
Members of Congress and the Executive Branch have, by far, the best possible health care coverage of any American. Yet, the powers-to-be in the Senate and House never talk about that, figuring only what their campaign contributors want.
Shame on them all.
23
..the best possible health care coverage...includes their respective staff.
Thank you, Senator Collins, for your integrity, courage and concern for the common person's health care needs. Stay strong. The voters in your state will not abandon you because you did not abandon them.
26
Having reviewed the preliminary CBO report on the latest Republican 'health care' proposal, two thoughts immediately come to mind.
First, to Senators McCain and Collins, thank you from the bottom of my heart for once again standing in the way and fending off this disaster.
Second, how in heaven's name could more than 40 Senators seriously entertain voting in favor of this abominable legislation? Millions without insurance, premiums skyrocketing for those most in need of care, access to insurance (and therefore to medical treatment) varying wildly from one state to the next, and a formula transparently devised to punish states that successfully implemented the Medicaid expansion and other ACA mechanisms to expand access to care, with funds shunted to the recalcitrant 'red states.' A trillion dollars in health care spending vaporized, no doubt to fund tax cuts for the wealthy still to come.
'You can't make this stuff up' one might say... but apparently Congressional Republicans have no difficulty doing so, none whatsoever.
25
Three "no" Republican votes is not enough. More Republicans who listened to today's hearings should be voting NO, not just Collins, McCain, and Paul (who has his own nefarious agenda). The witnesses and the Republican senators who testified made it eminently clear that the bill does not consider the needs of American citizens at all, it's just intended to lift medical expenses from the federal government (and the 1% who are being taxed extra to help pay for subsidies) and give money to the states as a health care band-aid but not enough to help anyone who becomes seriously ill.
23
What is really sad is that, out of all those GOP Senators, only three - McCain, Collins and maybe Murkowsky - have the courage, decency and integrity to serve the American people, rather than partisan interests and wealthy donors.
16
Good for Senator Collins for putting the well-being of all Americans ahead of the GOP goal of obliterating Obama's accomplishments, even when she was offered the bribe of more money for Maine! Thank you, Senator.
16
One key problem with all these efforts is that if you are over 30, you're likely to have something that qualifies as a pre-existing condition and if you're over 50 you're almost certain to have one. Which means that if you are in a job with health insurance, you're chained to that job and couldn't even begin to entertain the idea of starting a business or going to work for a small firm.
19
reply to Cfiverson :
and with all that you write, - how do we make America strong ?!
when we consider only the content of these comments here responding to the vote, it becomes crystally clear the US Senate is bunkrupt : morally and in other ways.
Maybe now the Republicans in Congress can start working for their constituents rather than only for their wealthy donors.
14
You will never accomplish driving a wedge between us and our president.
We already have health care for everyone. Hospitals and emergency rooms must accept all comers. The arguments are who pays for the health care. If insurance companies can reject preexisting conditions, emergency rooms cannot. Then a different group has to pick up the costs.
2
It's also an extremely inefficient way to provide health care. Ever hear of preventative care?
1
SO what you think is these hospitals should close when they cannot afford to pay for this?
Is that how you get your healthcare? I can tell you that mammograms are not offered at the ER. They might be able to save you from a heart attack but do not provide care after one. Where do you get your prescriptions renewed? Not there. Who do you call when you begin to go into heart failure? You need to call your cardiologist and you can only get one if you have health insurance. If you are diabetic, the cost of insulin and supplies to test blood sugar and administer the medication can be very high. If you neglect doing that the costs of caring for a patient with complications of macular degeneration, heart disease, renal failure, vascular insuffficiency, etc. is astronomical. There are health goals for the nation in reducing cost and one of those is decreasing ED visits for chronic diseases such as heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, COPD, diabetes. Telling people to go to the ED for primary healthcare is detrimental to those goals.
1
Universal healthcare. Single payer: More access, lower cost, better aggregate results, more efficient, more equitable, no more medical bankruptcies, no undue burden on businesses, less time spent on insurance forms, no random administrator at some insurance company thwarting doctors, less defensive medicine, tort reform, eliminate workmen comp, etc.
Take outsized, for profit distortion out of healthcare....
17
Holland doesn't have single-payer but they do have universal coverage. If you don't believe me check it out for yourself. If you do you'll find I'm telling the truth.
Therefore, single-payer is not necessary. It's one possible way to achieve universal coverage. It should be compared to other approaches and we should pick the best approach for our current situation.
Forcing 150,000,000 Americans off their employer-provided plans onto a new government plan has obvious pitfalls. If most folks on employer-provided plans were unhappy with them it might well make sense but I haven't seen any evidence that most folks feel that way. Do you have any such evidence?
Seems to me the best way forward is to beef up Obamacare, make it much more similar to the Dutch approach. We probably should also set up a public option. If that works well we can start nudging folks off their employer-provided plans by slowly phasing out the current exemption from income tax that those plans enjoy.
Perhaps that would lead us to a single-payer plan in an organic sort of way which wouldn't make many millions of Americans feel they had been railroaded onto a government plan.
Thanks Senator Collins! We should have 100 senators just like you! Thanks for going out on a limb and voting NO on this health bill. Thanks for really thinking about what kind of health care the American people need. As long as the majority of these Senators have their own health insurance than this bill doesn't
Affect them so for them it comes down to how fast can we pass this bill rather
Than what the contents of the bill is!
So Thanks for taking time to decide if this insurance would be
Beneficial to the American people.
14
While we can be relieved that a travesty of a bill was shot down as it should be, the larger problem of increasing partisanship remains. The rancor over ACA exists because of how it was ramrodded thru Congress in the first place. You would have seen a grudge carried this long and wouldn't have seen this vehement blow-back otherwise. And when it got ramrodded initially, a number of deals were cut to do so that themselves now threaten to undermine all of ACA. Pharmaceutical prices anyone ? When all Republicans block vote to oppose we label them "the party of NO". When all Democrats block vote to oppose we label them "saviors of healthcare". Demonization of either side serves no one. Simple fact is that we have yet to find a bipartisan way to balance our tax collection with our growing entitlement programs. This showdown does nothing solve that basic problem. And just growing the national debt is not going to get us anywhere. Bottom line is that everyone deserves basic healthcare, but we can't just keep throwing away more and more of our GNP on inefficient and expensive care delivery with little to show for it wrt productivity. Bipartisanship is messy and imperfect, but surely its better than whats gone on for the last decade. I say this not as some conservative sympathizer decrying tax and spend liberals. Rather I say it as a hard core liberal physician serving serving some of the poorest of the poor who realizes that this entire political process is just broken.
2
Start with big pharma. The problem isn't just the 'cost' of drugs, but more important the availability. I had a doctor who I can't work with because he's not in my 'plan' but he often told me about younger people, 30's thru 50's, with minor joint problems, who did not want to do physical therapy. First, it requires a little involvement; 20 minutes a day ! And it requires a co pay, while drugs are often cheaper. They see ads on tv and request drugs. I'm talking about people with relatively minor problems. But over the years these problems become worse, because they are not treated. Minor problems of movement slow you down and eventually have a negative impact on cardio vascular health. Throw in diet and you have people becoming, by their own choice, prematurely 'old'. That's how he sees it. Sad.
1
You're wrong. The democratic bill was worked on for almost a year. It was detailed and thought out but had problems due to some assumptions. Mainly, that younger healthy people would join and support older folks. That is how insurance works. Call it 'socialism' ... yikes - cover the children's ears as they run screaming from the room ! ... But that's how insurance works. Ask the guy with a Porsche who pays thousands a year but hasn't had an accident for decades ... Obamacare also had problems because certain states did not set up exchanges and insurance companies did not participate in all markets. You are trying to say it's all the same because you are embarrassed for the repubs, and you should be. They have betrayed your trust for 7 years ! And now it's all on the states? You'll see people 'moving with their feet' as saint Ronnie smirked when he made sure larger cities got little or no help ... Texas keeps talking about seceding. I've got a better idea. We in the North East and on the West coast will secede, and the rest of the country can became a sort of bloated version of Texas, which has some of the highest health care costs and worst pollution in the country ... Love that place, no regulations, pure 'freedom' .... Enjoy ! But don't even THINK of living here. If I sound bitter and sarcastic and angry it's because I am. But make no mistake, this is just the beginning.
1
I'm embarrassed and ticked off at Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, my home state, for not coming out against this. But I would expect no less from Ron Johnson.
7
Thank you, Sen. Collins! It makes no sense to pass a hurtful bill just to pass it. Thank you for sending it back to the drawing board, or wherever it ends up.
5
Why have the no-voters not come out and said the truth: That this bill would cause misery, hardship, pain. suffering, bankruptcy and death to tens of millions of our citizens. That is the issue here.
When this bill fails, voters must REMEMBER each senator who voted for it and hold him responsible as if it had passed. They wanted and tried and knocked themselves out trying to cause misery, hardship, pain, suffering , bankruptcy and death to tens of millions of us. It is fair to ask them WHY.
Who exactly would benefit?
How did they think this would be good for their constituents? We should hear them out and pin them to the wall and make them explain this.
5
Why are we constantly being told one of the bill's sponsors is a doctor?We are also told if the bill is passed there will be the head of HHS to overlook the implementation and by the way, he just happens to be a doctor also.We are constantly reminded that Bill Cassidy worked in a public hospital for many years of his medical career.Does telling us these guys are doctors make throwing millions off of healthcare more acceptable? We are to believe the oath Dr. Price and Dr.Cassidy took when they became doctors would make it impossible to do anything, not in the peoples best interest.On the contrary, it looks like the Hypocratic oath takes a back seat to their allegiance to a party. Price or Cassidy can't speak four or five sentences before they remind you of their former profession.What they fail to tell us is that they have taken a new oath and serve a new master.All 50 states Medicaid directors have told us the bill Cassidy the doctor co-sponsored is going to do grave damage to the healthcare system but Cassidy the politician says that is poppycock.Beware of a wolf in sheep's clothing is so relevant when dealing with Cassidy and Price.Looking at Cassidy's picture that is accompanying this article does anyone have to wonder why he made it a point to let everyone know he is a doctor? Whenever I listen to politician Cassidy I realize that we the people really need to get a second opinion!
11
Price can't even seem to make cost effective decisions regarding travel for his job but we are supposed to trust him to make selfless, cost effective, outcome positive decisions regarding the nations health. Hmmpf.
^5 Sen. Collins. I haven't voted for a Republican on the federal level for years. This isn't because I'm such a fan of Democrats but because the Republic policies have been so bad. It makes one not want to give the R's the power to do anything even if there are individual R's that are pretty good.
Sen. Collins is a responsible legislator with backbone standing up to her party with her ultimate priority being her constituents. If I lived in ME, she would definitely be an exception to my voting rule. Yes, I would vote R again for her.
The only way to reform our health care system is a bipartisan effort. I hope she'll be a leader in working across the isle to improve our definitely broken health care system. There are many ways to fix this. We can cut our health care costs by more than half if our elected representatives will take on the special interests. Yes, hc is 1/6th of the economy and contributions can be lost from them. But they'll gain the support of the other 5/6ths making it all worthwhile.Think of it. How much do companies like Boeing, GM, GE and other corporations pay each year in health care costs? How much do individuals and families pay. How much of a burden is this on small businesses? It may take 3-5 years to accomplish these savings but they're still the equivalent of tax cuts for all in the savings realized, even the health care industry who has to pay for health benefits for their employees. It helps the budget too. ^5 Susan. TY
3
Thank you Senator Collins and Senator McCain and thank you to my senators who have supported the Affordable Care Act all along: Senators Schumer and Gillibrand. Please vote no, Senator Murkowski; and you, too, Senator Portman. Ohio needs the expanded Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
7
A proposed health care plan. All persons statutorily deemed capable of paying for health insurance are put in one nationwide commercial insurance pool. Persons deemed not capable of paying or who have costly medical conditions, receive federal health insurance (Medicare-Medicaid model). The cost of commercial insurance is the same for each member of the pool. It is last years actual total payouts, plus administrative costs, divided by the number of insureds. All conditions covered by the federal plan are insured at the federally set reimbursement rates for both the federally and commercially insureds. Covered services are the same throughout the US. There is no employer mandate, no state exchanges, HMOs or even individual state Medicaid plans. There is no individual mandate, but uncovered but commercially insurable persons seeking medical care pay a designated penalty in addition to the approved treatment rates and are treated by large providers who can absorb possible revenue delay. These bills are collectible with easily obtained preferential liens.
This plan greatly simplifies health care finance and is based on actual costs in the prior year. It eliminates insurance gatekeeping and rate negotiations. By creating the largest pool of commercially insurable individuals, it may save private insurance for many and prevent inordinate costs expected with a single payee system. Expenses would be annually monitored, with a dedicated tax increase for this purpose if needed.
Maybe (if it fails, which seems imminent) McConnell and the GOP boys could run a crueler bill just before Christmas. It's always refreshingly amazing that there are so few in the Republican Congress with any courage, and humanity.
Jared can use gmail anytime he wants and if anyone complains he will purchase that Google Corporation with what's in his wallet.
Maybe we should have holiday every year that commemorates the Republican Healthcare fiasco. Insurance Day!
1
it is a sad moment as Ms. Collins has faltered. there is a twisted notion that has taken hold in politics - that the federal government can spend money out of nowhere to be given to states. Ultimately, any money the states get under ACA/Medicaid is taxed from its own residents. therefore, any cuts to it that they dont agree to, they can make up for by taxing their own people more. But Ms. Collins doesnt see that
They are spending money out of nowhere for the military. They are spending money out of nowhere for Trumps family to travel the globe making money on their real estate empire...why not then healthcare?
Thank you, Senator Collins of Maine, for rejecting a bill that would hurt other states, despite offers of money for yours. I will push my representatives to be similarly attuned to your state's needs. If states adopt slogans like "Maine first" and "Massachusetts first", we will stop being a country.
4
Citizens United became the last straw, removing any pretense that all Washington politics is anything other than bribery and corruption, made legal by the Supremes.
"The senators released a revised version of their bill on Monday morning, hoping to win over holdout Republicans in part by shifting more funds to states like Alaska and Maine."
Having lost Lindsay Graham's BFF, John McCain, they revised the bill by trying to win the votes of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski by throwing money at their states.
5
Didn't Trump try to announce this weekend that he some inkling that Rand Paul was going to change his mind?
We know Trump has to turn everything into a "win," no matter how big the loss.
But does he really think he can mask this latest failure?
All the football stuff didn't help either. Just more notches in the L column.
Once the filibuster protection is gone the Republicans can happily go back to pushing through a new repeal bill every few weeks without having to worry about dealing with the consequences of it passing. I think that they much preferred making noise on this issue rather than actual policy.
3
Mr. Trump and those loyal to him are only businessmen. They care not about good governance but their profits. An example of good policy is more progressive tax rates on personal income, especially on those at the top to help those in need. Equalizing the means of subsistance is not Robin Hood. It's manifest justice.
4
Health care, real health care is not a political football. It is not something that should be rushed through to meet a political deadline. Senators and congresspeople should take a long look at the various health care plans that are in use around the world. Take the best parts that will benefit US citizenry and carefully formulate your own single payer health care plan.
5
Now is the time for all good elected officials to come to the aid of the common person, regardless whether or not he/she is a Democrat or Republican!
19
Put a stake in it already before the damn thing returns in yet another guise. By this point it's safe to say that the GOPoliticians (Trump included) who remain committed to the idea of repeal and (maybe) replace are either not listening to the majority of voters or just don't care how they feel about the idea of tampering with their ability to obtain affordable health care. Proceeding this time without even waiting for the CBO report to be issued makes their maliciousness inarguably transparent. Physicians are obliged to adhere to the maxim "First do no harm"(remember that one, Doctor Cassidy?). How about our now insisting that politicians do the same?
22
there are 58 countries with a single - payer health care. some systems are good, some with their unique flaws, but at least people have CARE !
what is it about the US that they can't bring themselves to learn from these countries ?!
2
Republicans don't care about Americans' health, illness or injury. It is clear to all but the politically blind. Republicans' lies to the contrary only add dishonesty to their callous indifference as reasons to vote against them, against Trump in particular and for Democrats
39
If we could only see the proof. You will never drive that wedge deep enough.
The proposed status of current Medicare beneficiaries will be the key factor if a Medicare-for-all type system has a chance of being enacted. To put it bluntly, current Medicare beneficiaries will have to be bought-off. One fair way to garner the support of current Medicare beneficiaries would be to grant them a special deduction that could be applied to their adjusted gross income for Federal income tax purposes. The special deduction could be the total amount paid for Medicare tax by both themselves and their employers in all years that they were not receiving Medicare benefits. This would be above $100,000 for a typical couple. It might be capped at some amount so as not to benefit very high earners who may have paid much more in Medicare tax.
The reason that no nation, including the wealthiest can allow markets to set the prices of medical care indefinitely is that demand for medical care is inelastic. Demand for a good or service is inelastic if a percentage increase in price results in a smaller percentage decrease in the quantity demanded. Basic economics tells us that sellers facing inelastic demand will continuously raise prices until prices reach the elastic portion of the demand curve. Consequently in every developed country in the world, all goods or services with inelastic demand have their prices regulated by government. Medical care in the USA being the only exception..."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1647632
11
Why do current Medicare enrolees need to be "bought off?" It is just creating a system where many other Americans are being admitted into the same system. If anything, a major expansion of the pool with younger people should spread the risk further and perhaps even lower premiums.
And remember that Medicare is not at all "single payer." Medicare pays 80% of "usual and customary" charges. The premium for that 80% is deducted from social security checks. The private insurers can compete for the 20% not covered by Medicare, so called Medigap policies. My 86 year old mother in law pays more than twice as much for her Medigap (endorsed by AARP!) policy than her 80% Medicare premium is. But the policy turned out to be essential when she fell, spent 10 days hospitalized, mostly in ICU, culminating in shoulder replacement surgery. Without that medigap policy, her out of pocket might have been $40,000.
2
It's amazing that Republicans keep trying to change the US healthcare system in ways that nobody wants just to say that they've finally defeated Obama. It's almost as if they won in 2016 despite the fact that their policies are deeply unpopular. How could that be? It's not as if media coverage of the past election got bogged down in irrelevant nonsense like email security policy instead of focusing on the big substantive issues of the day. Surely, our national newspapers and television networks didn't do a disservice to voters by evading the one major issue that has animated party politics for the entire decade. What gives?
39
They keep trying not because they want to say they've finally defeated Obama, but because some of of their biggest donors demand it. Thank goodness some of them have higher ethical standards.
1
@SenatorCollins, thank you for putting the lives of the most vulnerable Americans first. You and @SenJohnMcCain have restored my faith that there are still a few honest and compassionate people left in Washington.
80
Thank you to Senator Collins for your profile in courage against tremendous pressure to vote party line. In times like these, we see few heroic actions in Congress but Senator Collins is one of a few Republican senators who cares more about her constituents (Maine is a lucky state to have her) than satisfying a few high-dollar donors.
Everyone should be able to have some sort of medical insurance as a basic quality of life. That point hit home today during my lunch hour as I stopped at my doctor to pick up some contacts. Sitting on the steps outside the medical center was an elderly lady on oxygen waiting for a bus in the brutal Houston heat. This lady asked if I could help her with the cost of her latest insulin prescription as she didn't have enough money. Looking at her condition, I believed her. This shouldn't happen in a wealthy country like the United States.
Thanks again Senator Collins for caring about what should be a basic human right.
73
Well Said & Bless Your Heart!
1
This is dreadful. My insulin costs me $6.30 for a whole year. My test kits are free, the strips cost me dollar a hundred. I am willing to bet that is well worth the extra 2% I pay in tax for high quality universal health care. It would also be way below what you poor souls have to,pay for insurance.
1
How can people look at sick infants, those afflicted by diseases, injured as a result of military service, accidents, or birth; and declare healthcare for the deserving only, such as the wealthy, or able-bodied workers; while simultaneously siphoning off our tax money, formerly designated for healthcare, to pay for their own tax cuts?
80
Unfortunately, it's simple. They made promises to their contributors and want to keep those contributions coming. The savings from repealing the ACA and cutting Medicaid were to go to tax cuts and if the R's can't deliver, they may not continue to support the Rs. Self interest over the good of their constituents. SAD! But also a rescue of the Rs. If they'd passed this bill and harmed their voters, do you think they'd get another term? Only McCain and Collins would because they stood up. Rand wouldn't because he wants to take even more from so many of his most vulnerable voters. Even if these voters had previously supported this bill and it passed, when they finally realize what harm it does them they'd be asking why weren't their elected officials saving them from themselves?
2
Never a more reasonable senator has shown brightly in American history than Senator Collins. It's time for more good leaders to work seriously and soberly for the good of all like she does.
43
Wow I hope that Ms. Collins can hold the line. So many people are counting on her to do the right thing. I applaud all the republicans who are willing to be the ones who have compassion for all Americans. Not just the rich, healthy ones.
27
I expect more repoublicans to come out and say they opposed the bill, now that they don't have to vote on it. What's his name from NV? I'm surprised he didn't join them. Perhaps now he will, not that his voice matters anymore.
Senator Collins is making the correct choice.
Surely she knows that the number of children in Maine receiving Medicaid, as a study in 2011 by the Children's Defense Fund demonstrated, was 113,063. If she read the new CBO score for this bill, she would have seen that they have estimated "Medicaid would be reduced by $1 trillion over the 2017-2026 period..."
Maine has many citizens who depend on benefits from SNAP, Medicaid, and other government programs. Surely Senator Collins is thinking of them. I certainly hope so.
18
Look closely at Senator Collins. Listen attentively to Senator Collins. She is what integrity looks and sounds like. Ive never voted for a Republican,but I'd vote for her in a New York minute.
54
She will make men pause in the voting booth.
I'm not a fan of the Affordable Care Act. It's just better than the alternatives we in the US are willing to consider. The European and Asian countries which have universal health care have very different systems which approach similar goals. We can have universal health care at lower costs that we currently spend with better results. All we need to do is open ourselves to other possibilities. Single payer is not the only model which works. The Swiss and Germans have highly regulated insurance. The French have a hybrid private-public system. None of those countries have individuals who experience bankruptcy due to illness and health care debt. The taxes are higher than in the US, but the overall costs are lower and they have low out of pocket costs. Some countries have no insurance premiums or very minimal premiums for supplemental policies. And they have better delivery of health care, better health outcomes for the whole population. We can all do better.
29
Actually, no we can't have universal health care unless we seriously reform other parts of the hc system. Also look at the taxes on their people, much higher than here. It could lead to rationing as well. I prefer a public option. It's administrative costs are about 15% less than private insurers and savings in other areas as well. Just these savings are almost $500B. Medicare has a 90-93% by it's users. No private insurer can make that claim. The Rs have been saying that competition is the answer. This is real competition that would force insurers to lower their costs. We still need them. The private sector is our best source of innovation. Also, there is a significant portion of people who would want coverage Medicare doesn't provide. Offer a public option. Let the people decide if it works or not. If it fails, ok, we pull Medicare back. If it succeeds, the country wins, well, except for parts of the hc industry.
1
You're kidding yourself if you think the Republicans will ever go along with "highly regulated" insurance. Arguably the corporate Dems won't either, because it's the for-profit participants of the healthcare system that are lining all their pockets. A travesty for the American public for sure, and it started with Citizens United.
Completely agree with that. Unfortunately, with the Koch brothers owning the Republican Party, I doubt anything like sanity will dawn.
The lack of empathy and cruelty that Americans seem to feel that drives them to want their fellow men not to be covered, also needs to be addressed. It's sociopathic.
Why are the Republicans wasting our time with this dog-and-pony show when Puerto Rico and the USVI are drowning in much and dying of thirst, swathes of Texas are struggling to come back on its feet, and, moreover, we are in the midst of the Korean Missile Crisis? If they cared about healthcare they would stop the Administration from sabotaging the ACA, work on non-partisan fixes to the ACA, and focus their attention on Korea and hurricane recovery and passing a Dream Act. Why do we have to wait two more weeks before they apportion money for Puerto Rico, and why don't they loosen up the austerity measures that are strangling its economy?
46
Yes, yes, yes!! Those suffering areas should be our priority, not this nonsense. Or the posture that some football players assume during the national anthem. Is that really the most pressing issue facing us this disastrous month?
2
Regarding the Republicans latest failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, the culprit is their insistence on writing "deeply flawed" losing legislation, and forgetting that it is the states that determine the rules under which insurance companies operate within their borders.
Republicans have complained for years that medical insurance companies can't sell policies across state lines.
They could, if they believed in the market place and competition, repeal Obamacare without repealing it. With complete control of 25 state governments, an additional seven governorships and seven legislatures, they could, through the National Governors Association, develop a universal set of regulations for all states that would create a nationwide marketplace in which all medical insurance companies could compete. No more barriers to selling across state lines.
Creating the above marketplace would not necessitate legislatively repealing Obamacare nor hobbling it through departmental policy. If marketplace competition works as Republicans believe it would do, Obamacare would fall to the wayside as affordable, full coverage insurance plans offered by insurance companies succeed.
Why haven’t Republicans created this nation-wide marketplace?
The answer is that they know it will fail.
And when it does, there will no longer be any rational, or even irrational, reason not to finally switch to a non-profit single payer system like the rest of the civilized world.
8
As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'til it's over." So I wouldn't be jumping too much yet. That pesky third "No" vote is still not assured. Will Murkowski have the courage to stand against it again despite repeated (and shameful) attempts by GOP leaders at bribing her? Will Rand Paul, who often says "no" but capitulates anyway, do what he said he would do? Then there are people like Lamar Alexander who tried to work across the aisle but still couldn't get anything past Democrats on the scale of what Republicans want. If this latest grand scheme fails, perhaps the GOP would be wise to follow incremental legislation, e.g., one thing at a time, like repealing the medical device tax or the large employer mandate, neither of which significantly impact the individual health insurance market. We'll see - the ideological battle in the GOP will continue and if it doesn't proceed to other things like infrastructure or tax reform, especially given the erratic nature of the President, it could spell trouble in the midterms.
4
If the large employer mandate is appealed, please tell me precisely where you suggest their employees go to find affordable health care coverage?
1
How can 50 different state-based plans possibly be better for the American People than one universal health care plan which covers everyone, including GOP senators
40
Right, and as has been brought up too little in all the discussions -- How does that effect people who move to a new state, do they have to start over?
1
Giving states authority over required coverage would create a tremendous number of medical refugees in the USA as families are forced to leave states where a family member cannot get healthcare for a life-threatening condition and go to other states where they can.
In the USA we have attempted to deal with the combination of inelastic demand and unregulated medical care prices in various ways. One method of keeping medical care expense as a percent of GDP to "only" double that of other developed countries was to have a significant portion of the population uninsured and denied medical care in some circumstances. The existence of large numbers of uninsured (conscripts in the war against rising medical costs) did moderate the growth in health care costs.
As long as medical prices are set by market forces, the inelasticity of demand will force market prices inexorably higher. In a "mixed system" with both free-market and controlled health care prices like the USA, prices inexorably are driven upwards to the market level as long as demand is inelastic. Prices such as payments from Medicare that are "controlled" have to be increased continuously with legislation such as the "doctor-fix" to stay competitive with market prices. Medical prices can only be effectively controlled either by direct price controls as in Japan or with systems where everyone gets care for "free" from the government .."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1647632
1
I'm proud to share the name Susan with this brave woman of integrity.
Thank you, Senator Collins.
17
Three cheers for Susan Collins, and a 21 gun salute for Jimmy Kimmel.
28
Thank you so much Susan Collins. Now let us hope Rand Paul doesn't waver at the last minute as he has been known to do. Lisa Murkowski we still need you . Please once again refuse to support the repeal of the ACA.
29
It will be back in a couple weeks if it does not pass in the next couple days so the drama will continue. I expect the Mercer's and Koch's to make the other no votes a bribe to good to be true. We have the best Govt money can buy. As Puerto Rico experiences mass devastation our Govt does nothing cause they are not white.
13
Is any one paying attention to Puerto Rico? 3 million Americans without power! The GOP simply goes into an endless loop on dumping health care, and Trump tweets 20 times bout the NFL but doesn't even tweet once about Puerto Rico!!
This is all more than disgusting!
The racism of the GOP is on full and open display these days!
39
Donald Trump will put out a contract on Senators who vote against his fiats.
2
Premature cheering.
After 2018 the Republicans won’t need these renegades.
2
.
I'm wondering when when the four GOP Senators - McCain, Collins, Mukowski & Capito - will get tired of fighting against their own party; a party that is attempting to do great damage to many of their own constituents.
They should look into their own hearts ... and then switch their party affiliation to Democrat! With a new majority, PROGRESS is American health care could actually be made!
21
It's too early to call this dead yet. Who knows what travesty the Republicans might use to get a repeal done and, failing that what our dear leader might do to further gut the ACA.
18
We could sure use one more Republican refusing to vote for it, in case Rand Paul wavers. My deep gratitude to all of you who realize who deeply this will pain your constituents, not to mention other American citizens.
For the rest of the Republicans -- lay off the koolaid and see what you are doing to people!
5
They're not going to pass this. They were never actually close to 50 votes. Also, they'd have to renew the reconciliation bill in order to keep plugging away at healthcare. They don't have the votes for that, and rank-and-file Republicans are tired of taking embarrassing votes on this issue.
1
Tweet tantrum in 5, 4, 3, 2...
25
The Republican Emperors have no pants. Disorganized. Poorly led. They will collapse into passing NO major legislation this year or the foreseeable future. Sad. Collaborate people! Your conceited points of view are hurting everyone including those you attempt to help.
5
Mr President. You must really be getting tired of LOSING.
15
There's always the NFL. Seems to be his Twitter obsession of the day.
Sadly, 44.1 and those vile "donors" still want your money and will do anything to extract it - over your dead body, apparently.
2
Republicans,
What are you going to tell your ‘donors’ now?
They are mad at you. You did not subserve.
9
Thank you, Sen. Collins. You have given us a reprieve.....but it is only a reprieve. We can breathe a deep sigh of relief, but then must brace ourselves for the next onslaught. These truly malicious attacks will continue until we effect our own regime change in the elections next year. We have a long, nasty struggle before us. We have to keep up the good fight while Mr. Mueller continues in his Herculean task. Stay alert & stay strong. Resist!
16
Reality check makes me wonder in whos intrest does congress serve the people. Finacailly speaking now but how much stock does membrrs congress have in health care stocks
2
What "idea" do you believe in, Senator Graham? Please explain. Especially since you are from one of those states that need other states money to make your plan work. RESIST and vote them all out!!!
9
Trump can't be bothered to learn anything about health policy. Too busy watching "Fox and Friends." Paul Ryan can't be bothered to leave the gym and work with his colleagues across the aisle. Too busy working out. Mitch McConnell is still steaming about a black man getting elected president. Won't rest until the name President Obama is struck from the history books. What a fine assortment of patriotic Americans! Thank you, Senator Collins for showing this pathetic cabal of old racist, misogynists how it's done. Bravo.
36
The Republican bill is dead once again.
2
There was nothing spontaneous about the way Trump stirred up this pointless, stupid controversy. The threat to destroy North Korea was losing its impetus in the media; Robert Mueller was creeping back into the headlines; Trump knew if he said something outrageous and stupid the media would all go charging after the New Shiny Thing and he could buy a little more time. He did it, and it's working...and it's our fault that it's working.
4
So much winning...
9
Americans are like little kids being given free candy. No matter how bad it is for them they want more.
Obamacare is a disaster that needs to be repealed.
And what exactly do you propose in the interim? And do you have health care coverage? Pretty easy to castigate what gave people (who never had it) access to health care when you maybe have never been in their shoes...
10
Wondering what your specific beef is with the ACA.
I'm a health care professional and am grateful everyday that we now are able to see patients who previously did not have coverage and ended up needlessly and expensively in the ER. The ACA needs to be repaired not repealed. Repeal is pure politics. Repair is the smart, humanitiarian path. All these poor people in states who have been bamboozled into thinking ACA is the devil don't realize what its repeal will mean for them. Heartbreaking really.
3
It will be or die of its own congenital defects.
We don't understand this word you use, "last-ditch". There are always more ditches.
4
Until the next time the zombie comes back.
3
Dead on arrival!
1
Thank you, Sen. Collins.
10
I don't get it. Only two GOP Senators are definitely No. It passes with that. Senators Paul and Cruz ctstill vote Yes. What about Murkowski?
15
"and they now have three firm opponents within their ranks: Rand Paul of Kentucky, John McCain of Arizona and Ms. Collins."
1
Out of fifty four republicans in the senate, there are only two or three who are somewhat decent, human beings. I say somewhat, but in this case, hopefully it's enough. The Republican party is morally bankrupt. It's a collection of liars, and con artists, led by the psychopathic, moronic, pathological liar: Donald Trump. To repair our democracy, and if there are any, decent, courageous, people left in government, of either party, we need a long period of reconstruction. We need to fix all of the damage brought on by the Republicans, since Ronald Reagan. Making America Great Again, is more than some ugly, cheap, overpriced baseball cap, made in China.
20
Yes, Murkowski is MIA. I think it's very premature to count bill this dead. That's what the Republicans want everyone to believe. I don't trust Cruz or Rand in the least. As for the rest of the chicken-hearted Republicans, cutting Medicare for millions disturbs them not at all.
4
They are just so utterly stupid. They could have worked with Democrats to really fix flaws in ACA and taken lots of credit for it from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Instead of trying to destroy the previous legacy and triumph over Democrats no matter the cost to the citizenry, they could have built on that legacy in a way that actually considered what the people desperately need.
Instead, they chose a narrow, blindly partisan and morally unconscionable path. The one reassuring aspect of all this is that it's very difficult to pull that sort of nasty business off in this country.
With that blithering lunatic in the White House, one can only pray that our system of checks and balances is a sturdy as it was intended to be.
21
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD looks like he has a mighty big headache.
My hopes and prayers is that it never goes away.
21
Thank you Senator Collins, and Senator McCain. That photo of Bill Cassidy holding his head? That's him weeping as his billionaire backers pull their support from him. If only he and other GOP paid employees of Koch & Mercer cared as much for their poorer constituents as they do for their own pocketbooks.
20
September 30th can't arrive soon enough! And then hopefully some of this foolishness will be abated.
4
But _far_ more important, are football players kneeling during the anthem?
8
What is shameful is that the other 48 Republican senators would vote for this terrible bill.
22
The Times forgets that Trump is not enemy. The enemy is poverty, war, strife. Perhaps if this paper tried to improve things instead of destroy this country, we'd get somewhere.
1
@Joe
Trump only wants a win. His own party members from the house and senate said he is clueless on every single policy. He isn't interested, nor does he care. He doesn't read, or study, or learn what he doesn't know. He isn't even aware he doesn't know what a president should know. This is unprecedented.
We are in dire straits here. Take off those rose colored glasses.
I am stunned by your blaming of NYT for the continued disaster presided over by a president unsuited to the role itself, and this Republican Party who only knows how to obstruct Barack Obama and malign Hillary Clinton.
20
How about Mikulski or Collins for first woman president? Not for sale....
4
Go, Sue, go!
3
In a word....GOOD!!
3
Thank you senators Collins, Paul and McCain for killing Cassidy-Graham Death Act before the Republican Party can kill tens of thousands of Americans.
8
Dr. Bill Cassidy as "honorable"? A doctor proposing what in effect is genocide on some 20+ million fellow Americans by malign neglect to grift for the political donor class? Not on your tintype!
27
Bill Cassidy should have his license to practice medicine revoked on the grounds of intent to do harm.
1
Dear Ms Collins, my father was born & raised in Bath. His mother, widowed when he was 2 years old, was the Treasurer for the city during the Great Depression. She kept a revolver in her desk drawer as much of the tax revenue was paid in cash. She was a strong woman, just like you. My father worked at BIW & lost some hearing riveting hulls for a summer job. He gaduated U Maine early so he could enlist in the Navy Reserves and serve in the Pacific. He passed away in 2008, but he's smiling down on you for standing up and being a mensch. Next time I'm Down East I's like to share a Baht-uhl of Bee-uh with you. JP
9
Can the Dems now throw a little party in the Rose Garden?
3
Thank you, John McCain and Susan Collins.
6
TrumpCare is like the murderer in a horror movie. The more times the public and medical institutions beat it until it it slithers slithers away, the more it pops out from a hidden room, even more hideous and threatening than before.
Can we finally, finally declare this monster dead?
4
So Susan Collins and Maine cannot be bought! Good to know and hear! Thank you both for your integrity. I believe Maine is famous for integrity. Dingo/I Guide!
14
What's the definition of insanity again?
8
Single-payer or Medicare for All would fix everything -- except that the health insurance industry would lose out. Single-payer would be cheap and easy to manage -- we'd all pay for it through our taxes, but according to income, as other western countries do. Too simple for us; we'd rather have people dying for lack of care or going bankrupt because they got cancer. We're not a wonderful people. Money-mad and fairly stupid.
23
Yea for Susan Collins. In a few succinctly worded paragraphs, she has described exactly why this bill is irresponsible. Whoever wrote that for her - kudos - beautifully said.
17
Thank you Ms. Collins for not being ashamed of integrity and standing up to those who want only to line their pockets from patients, alive or dead.
3
Thank you Senator Collins. Why you remain a Republican is beyond me. Your party is incapable of governing and daily exposes the lie of “compassionate conservatism,” an oxymoronic phrase if there ever was one. But a bad day for your party and your president is a good day for America. I think it’s called “winning.”
10
RIP..... the ridiculous GOP repeal and replace plan.
1
It will help people to understand the depth of Rand Paul's, Cassidy's, and Graham's depravity if they listened to the radio King of Cruel, Rush Limbaugh.
Most Repubs in Congress have made this divider their hero. This guy is the leader and driving down Americans' I.Q.
We can pick up some oppositional responses to those who listen to this nincompoop.
3
I am so tired of all the winning. Really, really tired.
6
Out of spite the Republicans want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, another racist move? Thank goodness Susan Collins has the guts to stand up to the bully of all times, trump, and the lemmings that are following his chaotic leadership.
4
Why does your headline speak of a "Health Bill" when it would take health care away from 25 million Americans, causing hundreds of thousands if not millions of early, unnecessary deaths?
Dan Kravitz
9
The name plate positioned in front of the article's accompanying photo of this deadly, zombie legislation's Senate co-sponsor should, more accurately, read: "The Dishonorable Bill Cassidy, Medical care Destroyer".
4
Senators McCain and Collins are national heroes. They literally saved thousands of lives.
7
We heard 7 years of GOP whining about Obamacare and how they were going to fix it to make it better for the American people. So now the Whiners have both houses of Congress and the GOP clown in the White House, and guess what? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The GOP has been lying to the American people.
Time for all politicians to begin the healing and go back to the days of compromise when Congress got work done. First item on the list, throw out all those Tea Party -Freedom Caucus frauds who have been wasting everyone's time with their all or nothing attitude. They are a group of selfish individuals.
9
Thank you deeply, once again, Senator Collins.
6
This is what happens when the Tea Party, worked deceitfully into trying to take over the Republican Party as a controlling minority. . . merely thru primaries. . .
. . . instead of honestly forming their own separate party, which would have then only had a minority support. And be seen for what it truly was.
2
Tonight in America I saw protesters who were fully disabled and in wheelchairs being dragged out by police from a meeting held by Republicans.
I saw people being pulled out of their wheelchairs in ways that appeared injurious.
Republican Senator Cassidy was seen yawning as it occurred.
Republican Senator Hatch told disabled protesters to shut up, and stop trying to put points on the board.
Then these Republicans delayed the hearing so the stakeholders---those disabled people pleading for healthcare, could be removed.
In America, they are dragging disabled people from a hearing on what becomes of their very futures, and their basic existence and life sustenance.
It should be known that all 50 Medicaid Directors came out against the Republican Health Scare Bill. Sen. Cassidy doesn't even know what is in his own bill. This is your Republican governance:
Disabled protesters were dragged out of the Capitol, today, in this country.
37
Dear Joanne,
When I saw your comment, I had to check to confirm that it could possibly be true.
The shame on America and Americans today is beyond expression. The patriotism of the protestors, and mostly Democratic senators, gives us hope that those who have obtained power through money and cruelty will be kept at bay.
To Republican Americans I ask: Who are you? Are you aware of what your votes mean to your own families, your own selves, and those of your fellow citizens? Do you truly believe that if Americans are less healthy that we will be a stronger nation? Please stand with us and do the right thing for America, at last.
3
That was just about the worst thing I've ever seen at the hands of our supposedly democratic government.
I am horrified by the behavior and intent of the GOP. They are nakedly trying to harm us.
The disabled people who put themselves on the line for us today are giants.
2
I really can't understand why there aren't more like senator Collins. Think about this. The Republicans woke up 8 years ago and discovered that somehow, a you know what, got to be elected president of the United States. Even though people like Donald Trump campaigned in every way he could think of against it, including saying the you know what was born in Kenya and not the United States and therefore not a citizen. Having failed at all this Republicans then spent the next 8 years doing everything they could to block, stop, frustrate and destroy everything that the you know what tried to do as president. You can imagine the sheer horror and mortification they suffered when the you know what got a health care bill passed that gave protection the millions of people who couldn't afford it before or had pre-existing conditions. Republicans went to bed every night gnashing their teeth and writhing in horror while remembering all the nasty things their racist constituents said about the you know what in the White House. So they promised to all their bigoted and racist followers that they would get rid of that health care bill, especially since it now had the you know what's name on it, namely OBAMAcare. And in fact, that really became their ONLY reason to kill the Affordable Care Act. and regardless of how many people it helped, and how many people it would hurt and destroy, had to be destroyed. But we an thank God that a few Republicans, like Susan Collins, are not racist.
5
A tip of the fedora, and a big THANK YOU!
..... from a subscriber with a pre-existing condition.
2
Thank you Senator Collins
4
Too bad we have politicians that are more concerned about getting re-elected than doing what is best for all Americans.
Obama realized that it's difficult to take away freebies and jokingly named it the Affordable Care Act.
2
Thank you Senator Collins for having the guts to sided with Senator McCain and hopefully sink this abomination of supposed Health Care.
2
The definition of "congress" means "to come together. "
Looks like only 2 R senators understand that.
The rest of them should be ashamed.
The real name of this despicable bill should have been "the plutocrats tax cut bill" oink oink.
These guys need to be voted out
All they do is divide us and try to siphon more money to rich campaign donors.
5
They have been able to get away with it since St. Ronnie.
No integrity, and proud of it.
1
Thanking the Honorable Senator Collins of Maine.
2
It's too bad that there isn't a law against trying to ripoff the majority of the country to benefit your rich friends, while pretending that you were trying to help.
9
Of course, that would be an unnecessary regulation.
Hey, I have an idea !
How about a bipartisan effort to improve health care coverage in America ?
Nah, I guess that would be too radical. First thing you know all those loser low income people would have health care. What good is it to be rich if you can't have better health care than the little people ? According to the President, the goal of being rich is to have two scoops of ice cream when everybody else gets one scoop.
5
I feel duped. What is UP with Lindsay G? I thought he was one of the saner and more thoughtful GOP-ers.
2
Much respect, Ms. Collins. Please switch Parties. WE need you, they don't deserve you. You are too good for the GOP, they will never respect your abilities and decency. It's anathema to them. Seriously.
4
Thank God for, well you know, FACTS, and those who speak them.
2
She couldn't be bribed and the dealers were out of cards.
4
One can be sure to see this beast raise its ugly head again and again.The Republicans are wholly owned by their billionaire contributors who insist that their paid political hacks engage in their phyrric idealogical battles to the detriment of our country.
One would have thought by this point in the cycle their legislation would have positive policy instead of this sort of tripe.
By this time all hope for political sanity from the Failure and Ignorance Party seems in vain.
4
god bless you if you are a republican voting against this bill.
for the rest of you, you remind me of myself when i was 6 years old and had a quarter to spend at the five and dime store - didn't see anything i wanted but was determind to spend my quarter anyway. and that's being generous on my part
I'm glad this latest attempt to destroy the ACA will probably fail. But, I won't thank her. Thanking her is the same as thanking an armed mugger for not killing you as they walk away with your stuff.
2
how in the world could nearly all Republican senators expose their naked partisanship at the expense of their constituents and the country as a whole? What terrorists could threaten more damage?
6
Why are we being subjected to this Health Bill: Ground Hog's Day Special Edition Movie. Sheer Torture and we're funding it? Why?
5
Sort of like the way California dreams up stupid unenforceable gun laws, huh?
Is this really going to be the last try? the final failure - or like the doofi in Home Alone - will they be coming back for more? - will the greedy viciousness ever end eith these people?
4
Great now stop tying to repeal it and work on fixing its issues.
5
If there is a unifying slogan for the 2018 campaign, it should simply be: 'Deliver us from the Republicans.'
5
Thank you, Senator Collins.
Thank you for putting us first before your party.
3