Andy Slavitt: The GOP health bill will hurt Americans. Bad backroom deals won't cure that.

[CousinIT]

(Andy Slavitt ran Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA for President Obama)

. . .

For all the campaign talk of replacing the 2010 Affordable Care Act with something that increases coverage and reduces premiums, the House bill before the Senate does anything but. With 23 million people losing coverage, premiums jumping 20% and federal protections for those with pre-existing conditions disappearing, it's no wonder that only 8% of Americans want to see it become law.

But only 50 votes are needed to pass the bill, and there are 52 Republicans in the Senate, so Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has decided to go for it. To succeed, he must make deals with a handful of moderates who have serious reservations, but he can’t alter the House bill significantly without losing conservative senators such as Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.

After bringing Cruz, Lee and 10 others into a backroom with him to design the Senate bill, McConnell now plans to dispense with the committee process, hearings and input from any dissenting voices. He's aiming for a quick vote within days or even hours after the release this month of an impact study or "score" by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

The strategy makes sense for there to be any hope of success. President Trump in a private session reportedly just confessed the House bill was "mean, mean, mean," and lawmakers who supported it were pilloried for taking away coverage to pay for a massive tax cut for millionaires and corporations. Holding a quick Senate vote before the July 4 recess means angry constituents back home won't tempt Republicans to vote no. . . .

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/15/bad-backroom-deals-wont-fix-gop-health-bill-ahca-column-andy-slavitt/102842356/

[bagelsforbreakfast]

1. "The GOP health bill will hurt Americans." - duh, that's the point...

[Hortensis]

2. VOX: "Republicans about to make Medicare-for-all much more likely"

This Ezra Klein article discussed what many of us have wondered: Would destroying the ACA create a new national mandate for just going to a single-payer system?

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“I will tell you,” says Len Nichols, director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University, “Democratic politicians I never thought would utter the words have mentioned single-payer to me in a non-joking way of late.”

If Republicans wipe out the Affordable Care Act and de-insure tens of millions of people, they will prove a few things to Democrats.

1. First, including private insurers and conservative ideas in a health reform plan doesn’t offer a scintilla of political protection, much less Republican support. (Me: The single biggest reason for creating a compromise ACA model, instead of single payer.)

2. Second, sweeping health reform can be passed quickly, with only 51 votes in the Senate, and with no support from major industry actors.

3. Third, it’s easier to defend popular government programs that people already understand and appreciate, like Medicaid and Medicare, than to defend complex public-private partnerships, like Obamacare’s exchanges."

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/15/15787626/mitch-mcconnell-single-payer-medicare-all