Inhofe, Lankford back unsuccessful repeal bills
Oklahoma’s senators voted Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon for two repeals of the Affordable Care Act that failed to garner enough votes for passage.
Tuesday night, U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, both Republicans, voted in favor of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, a modified version of an Obamacare repeal bill written earlier this month by the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The votefailed, 43-57.
The measure would have capped Medicaid spending and ended an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act; reduced subsidies that help people pay for insurance plans on health care exchanges; eliminated requirements that individuals buy insurance and employers provide it; and allowed insurers to offer cheaper, skimpier plans without protections for pre-existing conditions. An amendment would have added $100 billion in Medicaid spending.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined the bill — absent the Medicaid amendment — would save $321 billion over the next decade. It would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million during the same time period, according to the CBO.
Lankford signaled his support for the bill July 13, saying it would lower insurance premiums by 30 percent in three years, set aside $132 billion for states to help provide insurance to low-income residents and “not cut Medicaid from current funding.”
“I will fight for a system that offers more choice, lower premiums, and a stronger, sustainable safety net for vulnerable Oklahomans,” Lankford said then.
On Wednesday afternoon, Lankford and Inhofe voted in favor of a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and delay replacing it. The bill was a modified version of legislation passed in 2015 and vetoed by President Barack Obama. It failed, 45-55.
Like the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the repealand-delay bill would end Medicaid expansion, mandates and marketplace subsidies. It would eliminate marketplace health care exchanges entirely and do away with taxes on upper-income Americans and health care companies.
When a similar bill passed on Dec. 3, 2015, Inhofe called it “a key victory for this Congress.”
“Repealing Obamacare is the first step to replacing this disastrous law with a new one that allows real health insurance markets to develop without the heavy hand of Washington getting in the way,” he said.
A CBO analysis concluded the repeal bill would have left 17 million more people uninsured next year, 27 million more uninsured in 2020 and 32 million more in 2026. It would have decreased deficits by $473 billion over the next decade.
Also on Wednesday afternoon, Lankford and Inhofe voted against a Democratic amendment to send repeal legislation to the Senate Finance Committee with instructions that the committeeremove all changes to Medicaid. The measure failed along party lines, 48-52.
As Republican leaders continue to search for an ACA repeal bill that can satisfy 50 of their 52 senators, Lankford and Inhofe have positioned themselves as loyal supporters of repeal, voting in the affirmative for each of the Republican bills and motions thus far. Debates and votes are expected to continue into Thursday and Friday. Lankford told the Washington Post on Wednesday that, on health care, “There’s not a good option that’s sitting in front of us. There’s a process to get to a good option.”