Senate healthcare bill showed lots of heat, but little light

Mitch McConnell

In what has been a tumultuous week in Washington as the U.S. Senate revealed its revised version of the American Health Care Act, passed by the House several weeks earlier, amidst much protest for the cuts in Medicare affecting 24 million Americans, the Senate version differed little than the House, but received swift opposition by many of the nation’s most prestigious organizations: The American Medical Association, The American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association,and the American Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals, to name but a few.

With near equanimity, they opposed the nearly $800 million dollar reduction of Medicaid, a program that benefits prenatal women, up to and including the birth of a child, children’s health care, care for the indigent and for many older Americans, both low and middle income, that the bill contained.

The American Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals had this to say, “In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the AMA's CEO James Madara wrote, "Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or 'first, do no harm.' The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels."

"We believe that Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect," Madara continued.

As this blog has noted, these bill proposals by the Trump administration have in actuality been wealth transfer bills, than true health care plans, yet the ruse has worked as a cover for the GOP as they attempt to maintain the appearance of moral purity, and insisted that the Senate version would provide REAL health care that is affordable and by retuning economic power to the states, and subsequently to the people themselves; yet, as we have seen nothing could be further than the truth as the Congressional Budget Office noted with its negative rating on both proposals, which aired on Monday, and found that the bill would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured by 2026 if enacted, noted CNN.

On the day of reckoning, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell only had five reliable senators in approval as the rest peeled away their votes, under negative public reaction, as protesters across the country, were shown on televised news, in sit-ins, begging lawmakers to reconsider. And, certainly the sight of wheelchair bound activists across the country, in Denver, and in Washington, being arrested by police must have made an impact on their decision.

Now the hue and cry is for a bipartisan effort between the Republicans and the Democrats to act, in concert, something that no one has seen in recent years and that many doubt can happen. And, some far left Dems are urging, in retaliation, that the Dems not even come to the bargaining table, as they were shut out of the Senate deliberations. Yet, seasoned observers note that this helps no one achieve what the nation deserves - true and affordable health care.

As history has shown, those who try are often pilloried as socialist, communists, egoists and worse; as President Lyndon Johnson endured with Medicaid, and as First Lady Hillary Clinton was trashed in 1993, and of course, President Obama got the lion’s share with the Affordable Care Act, getting panned for putting his name on what was essentially a Republican plan, created by Mitt Romney as governor of Massachusetts.

But, a recent Marist poll found only 12 percent of Americans favoring the dead-on- arrival plan, and there are some efforts remaining to try, and try again. One option from the GOP is to retain one of the taxes on the wealthy to help stem the tide of opioid abuse.

Secondly, in a departure from precedent, they are willing to look at offering cheaper plans that are less comprehensive as long as there is one that contains the standards of the ACA, that meets consumer protection standards in the ACA, reported The New York TImes.

This would meet, while it was not in the House version, or even in the initial approach by the Senate, an opportunity to mute critics such as Republican Sen. Bob Corker, of Tennessee, who opposed the cuts, and Sen. Rob Portman.  

Yet, opposition, to even that has come from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan who said the money for opioid treatment would be “a drop in the bucket,” with Collins wanting to distinguish between those taxes that increased premiums, versus those that didn’t, an unwelcome comment to those that want to cut deeper, and deeper, like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

it’s important to note that White House Economic Advisor Mick Mulvaney, in one of my earlier analysis said “The White House also needs the money from the repeal to help fund the tax overhaul and the tax code revision. In a sharp reversal from earlier statements from Trump, Mulvaney said that the president said he was going to do tax reform next, now says that has to wait. He said in an interview with Fox Business that if health care doesn’t happen “fast enough, I’ll start the taxes. But, the tax reform and the tax cuts are better if I can do health care first.”

Statements like these make it harder for those like Collins and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, both with large expanses of rural areas, whose small network of federally funded providers, and many older residents facing a loss of Medicaid, revealing, once again, that this bill is not about health care, and these adjustments are mostly cosmetic adjustments to court opponents.

The rancor in the GOP has also evolved to the point that a super PAC was ready to denounce Sen Dean. Heller, of Nevada, whose vulnerability in 2018, made him low hanging fruit for an attack, but one that was repelled by his colleagues.

If this donnybrook can produce anything meaningful, and helpful, for the country, it remains to be seen, with these secret meetings, shutting out senior lawmakers from the deliberations, such as Collins, and then producing mean retributive measures like the attack on Heller. Can hope spring eternal?