Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Last-ditch effort to replace ACA: What you need to know
Republican efforts in Congress to “repeal and replace” the federal Affordable Care Act are back from the dead. Again.
While the chances for this last-ditch measure appear iffy, many GOP senators are rallying around a proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., along with Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
They are racing the clock to round up the needed 50 votes — and there are 52 Senate Republicans.
An earlier attempt to replace the ACA this summer fell just one vote short when Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and John McCain, R-Ariz., voted against it. The latest push is setting off a massive guessing game on Capitol Hill about where the GOP can pick up the needed vote, though McCain on Friday said he would not support the Graham-Cassidy legislation.
After Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, Republicans would need 60 votes — which means eight Democrats — to pass any such legislation because special budget rules allowing approval with a simple majority will expire.
Unlike previous GOP repeal-and-replace packages that passed the House and nearly passed the Senate, the Graham-Cassidy proposal would leave in place most of the ACA taxes that generated funding to expand coverage for millions of Americans. The plan would simply give those funds as lump sums to each state. States could do almost whatever they please with them. And the Congressional Budget Office has yet to weigh in on the potential impact of the bill, although earlier estimates of similar provisions suggest premiums would go up and coverage down.
“If you believe repealing and replacing Obamacare is a good idea, this is your best and only chance to make it happen, because everything else has failed,” said Graham in unveiling the bill last week.
Here are five things to know about the More from Kaiser Health News,