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Repeal Fails
The Republicans have failed once more to keep their long-made promise to repeal Obamacare.
John McCain – Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
Published in Domestic PolicyUpdated 3:10 a.m. | In a dramatic early Friday morning vote, the Senate voted down the Republican effort to overhaul the U.S. health insurance system, 49-51, with GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona’s dramatic “no” — to gasps in the chamber — providing the key vote to send the bill to defeat. Lobbying from top GOP leaders, McCain’s colleague from Arizona Jeff Flake, Vice President Mike Pence and a swath of Republicans were not enough to sway McCain. Pence himself spent more than 20 minutes trying to get McCain to change his mind.GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine were expected to vote “no,” but Republicans were confident shortly before the vote they could get to a 50-50 tie, and bring in Pence to break it. Before he cast his “no” vote, McCain had gathered with a sizable group of jovial Democrats on the other side of the Senate chamber. He returned to the Republican side, walking right past Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
A not surprising result — though I was surprised (but shouldn’t have been) that McCain was one to torpedo it. Without more knowledge about the specifics of the bill, it’s hard to know whether it should have passed or not. It certainly wasn’t a repeal of ObamaCare or what needs to be done to fix the system.
The question is, what now? It is obvious to everyone that ObamaCare is failing. The hard Left wants Single Payer. Libertarians like want me want all government intervention abolished.
I see three possible scenarios for what could happen over the next few years.
First, the moderates on both sides could get together to enact some sort of compromise legislation that might at least slow the descent into Single Payer. I don’t know if such compromise legislation could permanently halt Single Payer but perhaps it could delay that result. I think this scenario is plausible in that the Democrats no longer need to say they are unwilling to talk to Republicans if Republicans will agree to drop the word “Repeal” from the legislation. Trump declares victory and is reelected in 2020. The quality of health care continues to decline while the costs continue to go up.
Second, everything may be so polarized now that the sides won’t talk to each other at all. ObamaCare will go down in flames, and we will get Single Payer, possibly signed into law by a President Trump in 2019 or 2020. If Trump doesn’t sign it into law, it is signed into law by a Democrat President in 2020. The quality of our health care collapses along with our country supposedly being “free.”
Third, the Democrats retake the House and Senate in 2018 and pass Single Payer. Trump may or may not veto it. If he does, he is voted out of office in 2020 and President Kamala Harris signs it into law. Again, the quality of our health care collapses along with our country supposedly being “free.”
It seems like no matter what, Single Payer is the ultimate outcome. Sadly the free-market option I want is a pipe dream that will not happen — at least not without a new President and vastly greater number of libertarian-leaning Republicans in Congress. And I don’t think that will happen because it’s not what people want. The majority of Americans have been convinced that health care is a “right” and won’t accept a free-market system as a result.
No. What was required here was 51 votes in the U.S. Senate. Go brush up on how a bill becomes a law.
Everyone is to blame. Trump, Ryan, McCain, everyone. Most of all the Democrats for passing ObamaCare without getting even one Republican on board, and then refusing to speak to Republicans when the system is obviously failing. About the only person that probably should not be blamed is the much-maligned McConnell. At least he managed to get a vote on several separate bills.
I’m having difficulty allocating my contempt this morning: McCain, GOP Leadership, GOP Moderates, PDT, Scaramouch. I do believe that I am tired of ‘winning’.
They are all feckless.
Yes, they are all to blame – that means Congressional Republicans AND Trump.
It took a total commitment by Democratic leadership in Congress and President Obama to get Obamacare passed. It stands to reason a similar commitment would be needed to kill it.
That leadership commitment was not there with either Trump or the congressional leadership. The only way it was going to happen would be by spending as much political capital as it took to get it done, through a combination of bribes and threats. Where’s the equivalent of the “Cornhusker Kickback” to persuade a reluctant Senator? Congressional leadership wasn’t bribing congressman and Trump wasn’t threatening them (about this, at least) so no repeal was ever possible.
No. Everyone is not to blame. Three GOP Senators are to blame for the failure of this bill to pass last night.
I guess this means Arizonans get what they vote for.
The only hope is that Americans may have been somewhat spoiled by the relative high quality of the health care they get now. And that the low quality of single payer will cause a revolt.That is literally the only hope, and a lot of people are going to pay the price beforehand. So if it’s got to happen, let it happen quickly, so that there will be enough people around who remember good health care.
We have definitely taken a pause from winning. I hope it is only temporary.
The Democrats don’t pretend to be Republicans. Republicans should pass a bill that kills the individual mandate and the ‘insurance’ coverage mandates because these are very direct incursions against individual liberty. No individual should be told by the federal government what to buy. No individual should be prevented from establishing a business activity for which there is no basis for legal prohibition. Can we just get these people off our backs?
Ronald Reagan is weeping….
Its amazing that with a majority in both houses and the presidency its the Democrats who are ‘winning’ almost all the big national battles.
Congress can repeal and replace and role back and the Democrats are holding their own and not going after the ‘simple’ things that when they get back in control will all be reinstated. They appear clever enough to hold the line on the big programs and make the entire congress and president look foolish and dysfunctional and that’s how they intend to get back into power.
Of course Trump feeds them ammo everyday, they have to be grateful for that.
Yeah. that’s some great insurance the Democrats concocted. Of course I have pediatric dental coverage ( no little kids), fertility treatment ( both wife and I somewhat long in the tooth for that), and unlimited psych and substance abuse coverage ( that may come in handy if I think about this too much).
I used to get calls from various Republican organizations begging for donations to fight Obama and the Democrats. A few years ago after listening to one scripted spiel, I asked the caller why I should bother to contribute when the Republicans will just roll over and do what the Democrats want. I don’t think I’ve had a call since then.
Those numbers are appalling, no question. Here’s the question. Would the “skinny repeal” have helped?
All you really need to know is the repeal of the individual mandate and the insurance coverage mandates would allow those who are being busted by the above numbers to not be busted. What do you mean when using the word ‘helped’?
I don’t know what “skinny repeal” means. What I do know is that insurance is so effing high that it makes more sense to do without. But of course, we’re not allowed to go without (thanks, John Roberts!) And a mandate means that insurance companies no longer have to compete for business. And when they’re guaranteed a cut of government subsidies, why wouldn’t they jack up prices?
The left says this is because corporations are evil and so the government needs to regulate them. But I think we all know that it’s the collusion between government and corporations that creates such a mess. The only solution is to get the government out of the market altogether. Deregulate the industry as much as possible. Let companies sell whatever plans their customers want, wherever they want. Let the free market fix the mess. It will self-correct if the government would just get out of the way.
Democrats passed it with no help from Republicans. Republicans could repeal it with no help from Democrats. But damned if there aren’t just enough quislings on the GOP side to make sure the Democrats remain victorious.
No, this is not Trump’s fault, no matter how hard you wish it to be. Once again, Republicans are snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.
This! And it amazes me that we have members here who cannot see this.
By “helped” I meant a reduction in cost for either the quoted plan or access to similar health care provided by that plan (either out of pocket or through a different plan) for a lower price than that plan.
Unless I’m missing something, because the skinny repeal kept all the rules and regulations in place, health insurance companies will still have to offer the same expensive health care plans as before. And, without a mandate, the cost for those plans would probably go up rather than down. So, I don’t see how the bill would help the person trying to purchase that plan.
It’s possible that, without the mandate, people could forego buying insurance altogether and obtain the necessary care out-of-pocket for a net lower cost. For these people, the skinny repeal may well have helped. For everyone else, though, it’s difficult to see how that skinny repeal would have bring down the numbers for health care plans like the one quoted.
The one good thing about the bill is that it would have, as you noted above, led to an increase in individual liberty. That is a good thing in and of itself and I don’t mean to just shrug it off. But I don’t think the bill would have helped improve the quality or cost of health care in the United States.
Because Trump initially said he would veto a full repeal and promised more coverage at a lower price. Republicans would have had to ignore the leader of their own party to repeal ObamaCare. Later, Trump changed his mind and said let’s repeal it now and replace it later. (Of course, we shouldn’t forget that even the full “repeal” was in reality no such thing.) That was a good move and Trump deserves credit for it. Unfortunately, Trump spent more time tweeting about Sessions, etc., than stumping for the bill. Leadership helps.
No, it is not all Trump’s fault. But neither is Trump absolved of all blame.
McCain is a Republican who would screw over the American people to settle a score. Fred is a Libertarian who doesn’t mind the American people getting screwed over if the alternative is that something good happens while Trump is president.
Are you thinking less expensive plans would not show up if coverage mandates were eliminated?
That’s my understanding with respect to the “skinny repeal,” yes, because all the rules and regulations would have remained in place (such as the requirement to cover pre-existing conditions). I’d love to be wrong about that though.
A true repeal, especially of the pre-existing conditions mandate, would indeed lead to the arrival of less expensive plans.
No, the best that is going to happen is it will be left to die on it’s own. Because it’s unsustainable. And Republicans need to hammer that home every chance they get, and remind the public that it was the obstinacy of the Rats and their GOP traitors who put us in this position.
Why? Without a mandate (and with open markets) insurance companies would be forced to compete again for business. That’s how things work in the real world. They would no longer get the government handing them customers on a plate along with taxpayer-funded kickbacks
National Review and The Weekly Standard have supported/protected John McCain year after year. Please don’t support those publications with your money.
Perhaps I’m not being clear enough with my terminology. By “mandate” I meant the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, which the Supreme Court laughably called a “tax.” If all the other rules and regulations are in place, that mandate is necessary so that the healthy can subsidize the non-healthy. If the healthy drop out, the price of insurance for the non-healthy will increase. And I don’t believe that insurance companies would have the option to offer other plans (such as plans that do not cover preexisting conditions) in order to “compete again for business” with customers. Let me emphasize again on this last point that I am only talking about the “skinny repeal,” that this my understanding only, and that I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
But if by “mandate” we are talking about the other rules and regulations in ObamaCare — most especially the “mandate” that health insurance companies cover preexisting conditions — then I emphatically agree that without those mandates costs will go down.
A $14,300 deductible?! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!
Canceled my subscription to NR last year after nearly a quarter century. As for WS, I subscribed for only one year back when they started in 1995 or 1996.