McCain kills healthcare bill
THREE GOP SENATORS SUPPORT SENATE DEMOCRATS IN THE DRAMATIC 51-49 VOTE
Senator John McCain appeared poised to be the saviour of the GOP health bill when he returned to the Capitol last week despite brain cancer. He turned out to be the bill’s executioner. In an astonishing development yesterday, the Arizona senator turned on his party and his president, joining two other GOP senators in voting “no” on Republicans’ final effort to repeal “Obamacare.” His unexpected vote killed the bill.
AUS Senate led by Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans dealt the president a harsh blow yesterday, failing to move ahead with a major campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare as they fell one vote short of passing health care legislation.
Three Republican senators — John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — joined Senate Democrats in the dramatic early-morning 51-49 vote rejecting the bill. The outcome may spell doom for the party’s seven-year quest to gut a 2010 law that was Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was unsuccessful in securing passage of even a stripped-down so-called skinny bill that would have repealed a few key parts of Obamacare. Broader legislation was defeated earlier in the week.
“It’s time to move on,” McConnell, whose reputation as a master strategist was in tatters, said on the Senate floor after the vote that unfolded at roughly 1.30am. “This is clearly a disappointing moment,” McConnell added.
“The American people are going to regret that we couldn’t find a better way forward.”
The Senate’s action also means that the Affordable Care Act, which extended health insurance to 20 million people and drove the percentage of uninsured people to historic lows, remains in place and must be administered by an administration hostile to it. Republicans have long denounced Obamacare as an intrusion by government on people’s health care decisions.
The setback leaves Trump without a major legislative win after over six months in power, though Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. He had been expected to make rapid changes to health care, taxes and infrastructure spending.
“3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let Obamacare implode, then deal. Watch!” Trump tweeted after the vote.
No clear guidance
Trump has repeatedly berated congressional Republicans for being unable to overcome internal divisions to repeal Obamacare, but has offered no legislation himself, nor any clear guidance on what he would like to do about replacing the law.
The president has demanded at various times that Obamacare should be allowed to collapse on its own, that it should be repealed without replacement, and that it should be repealed and replaced.
The voting down of the bill still leaves uncertainty in the health care industry, with insurers not sure how long the Trump administration will continue to make billions of dollars in Obamacare payments that help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans.
Insurers have until September to set rates for 2018 health plans in many marketplaces. Some insurers, including Anthem Inc, Humana and Aetna have pulled out of Obamacare markets, citing the uncertainty over the payments.
Others have raised rates by double digits.
Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-seat Senate. McConnell could afford to lose support from only two Republican senators, with the tiebreaking vote to be cast by Vice President Mike Pence.