Inside The ‘Most Radical Of Any Of The Republican Health Care Bills’ Debated This Year
For all the last-minute rush surrounding the measure from Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, the bill is actually the most far-reaching the Republicans have tried to pass yet. Media outlets take a look at what exactly is in the bill and what it does.
The New York Times:
Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Is Most Far-Reaching
For decades, Republicans have dreamed of taking some of the vast sums the federal government spends on health care entitlements and handing the money over to states to use as they saw best. Now, in an 11th-hour effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the party has come up with a way to repackage the funding for the law it loathes into a trillion-dollar pot of state grants. The plan is at the core of the bill that Senate Republican leaders have vowed to bring to a vote next week. It was initially seen as a long-shot effort by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. But for all its ad hoc, last-minute feel, it has evolved into the most far-reaching repeal proposal of all. (Zernike, Abelson and Goodnough, 9/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Q&A: How The Graham-Cassidy Plan Would Change Health Coverage
The Graham-Cassidy bill would lump together the money spent on two ACA programs to expand health coverage: subsidies for private insurance and an expansion of the Medicaid program. That funding would be redistributed as block grants to states that could use it to fashion their own health systems. All of the bill’s health spending would end in 2027 and need to be reauthorized by Congress. The bill also makes structural changes to Medicaid by capping how much federal money states can get. A similar proposal, contained in the Republicans’ last effort to repeal parts of the ACA, would have resulted in 15 million people losing health coverage in a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (Hackman, 9/21)
The New York Times:
The G.O.P. Bill Forces States To Build Health Systems From Scratch. That’s Hard.
In 2003, health care policy makers in Massachusetts agreed that the state should build a system to expand coverage to its uninsured residents. It took four years before Romneycare was fully up and running. In between, politicians had to think hard about how they wanted the system to work: how money would be raised and spent, what benefits would be offered, whether and how markets should be used to distribute coverage, whether people who didn’t buy coverage should be penalized. (Sanger-Katz, 9/21)
The Washington Post:
How Many With Preexisting Conditions Would Be Priced Out Of Coverage Under Cassidy-Graham?
The easiest way to understand the debate over preexisting conditions in health-care coverage — a debate fueled this week by Jimmy Kimmel’s repeated disparagement of the new Republican plan to overhaul Obamacare — is to look at the Obamacare website. As of writing, Healthcare.gov explains what protections the Affordable Care Act provides to those with conditions that, before the bill’s passage, may have resulted in denial of coverage or sharply increased premiums. (Bump, 9/21)
NPR:
Latest Senate Health Bill Would Cut Funds To Blue States
Senate Republicans' latest plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system ends with a massive shift of federal money from states that expanded Medicaid — and are largely dominated by Democrats — to those that refused to expand. Several analyses of the bill show the pattern. (Kodjak, 9/21)
Politico:
Last-Ditch Obamacare Repeal Bill Has ‘Worst Elements’ Of Earlier Plans
The last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill has almost every divisive proposal that doomed previous bills. The big difference: a Sept. 30 deadline to use a rule that allows Senate Republicans to pass a measure with just 50 votes. (Demko, 9/21)
The Washington Post:
Federal Estimate Shows Big Win-Loss Gap Among States Under Cassidy-Graham Bill
An internal analysis by the Trump administration concludes that 31 states would lose federal money for health coverage under Senate Republicans’ latest effort to abolish much of the Affordable Care Act, with the politically critical state of Alaska facing a 38 percent cut in 2026. The report, produced by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, focuses on the final year of a block grant that states would receive under the Cassidy-Graham legislation. It shows that government funding for such health insurance would be 9 percent lower overall in 2026 under the plan than under current law. (Goldstein and Eilperin, 9/22)
Politico:
Trump Publicly Backs Healthcare Effort, Privately Harbors Doubts
In public, President Donald Trump is all-in on the Senate’s final chance to repeal Obamacare. But privately, there’s ambivalence in the White House about the bill’s contents and its chances of clearing the tightly divided chamber next week. Trump spent time between meetings at the United Nations calling senators and other senior White House officials about the Graham-Cassidy bill, asking for updated vote tallies and how to woo senators for the bill. White House officials have considered tweaking the state funding to win a vote from GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — and others. Trump has also publicly excoriated Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for voting against the legislation, telling aides he would go after other senators. (Dawsey and Everett, 9/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Ads Target California's GOP House Members On New Healthcare Bill But It's Not Clear Who's Paying For Them
Five of California's House Republicans are being featured in new digital ads urging them to oppose the so-called Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill to roll back Obamacare. But the newly formed group that's running the ads isn't saying where it's getting the money for them. (Mai-Duc, 9/21)
The Hill:
CNN To Host Health-Care Debate With ObamaCare Repeal Sponsors
CNN will host a town hall-style debate Monday night where senators will face off over the new ObamaCare repeal bill. The network announced that Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), opponents of the bill, will debate its co-sponsors, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). (Concha and Sullivan, 9/21)