Senate Republicans unveil 'discussion draft' of health care bill

[txradioguy]

Only if..... you buy into the meme that the GOP should now accept their perpetual era of "lowered expectations".   They are supposedly ready and willing to pass this ObamaCareLite crap via the nuclear option..... ie without that majority they supposedly need for a clean repeal bill.  So why the hell can't they come up with and pass a full repeal bill via the nuke option, like they promised voters they would do if and when put in majority control power.   Why?  Because they lied and never intended to do what they promised.  That's what I'm firmly convinced of now.   And the left didn't do it to them.  They did it to themselves.

@XenaLee you nailed it!

 

[Bigun]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) issued the following statement Thursday responding to the release of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017:

"Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor. There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current healthcare system but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their healthcare costs."

[Emjay]

I was just about to post that.  I totally respect Cruz, Lee and the others.  If they aren't satisfied, the bill must be more flawed than I realized.

[Right_in_Virginia]

How do we counter the hysteria out there?  And this is the tip of the iceberg:

VIDEO: Health Care Bill Protesters Dragged Away by Capitol Hill Police
Fox News, Jun 22, 2017

Hundreds of protesters gathered this morning at the U.S. Capitol after Senate Republicans released their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Katie Pavlich noted that many of the demonstrators have not even gotten a look at what's in the 142-page bill.

One protester yelled "no cuts to Medicaid!" as he was carried off by several officers, while another accused Mitch McConnell of trying to "kill" people.

The Senate is taking up health care legislation of its own after the House passed the American Health Care Act last month.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) unveiled the bill on the Senate floor this morning and senators are looking to vote on it early next week.

“More Americans are going to get hurt if we do nothing," he said, referring to the failure of ObamaCare.


More: http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/06/22/gop-health-care-bill-protesters-removed-capitol-hill

[XenaLee]

Here's the "deal" they need to agree on right here.  No need to have committee meetings...no need to negotiate or meet in the middle.  The bill has already been written once and approved.

Someone just needs to have the guts to re-introduce it.

H.R.596 - To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and for other purposes.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/596

Obviously..... the GOP presenting that bill was all for show....Kabuki theatre.... to protect their phony baloney jobs.  And the voting right fell for it.... again.   I can't speak for other voters on the right, but I will never fall for that BS again.  That's one thing I DO know.

[EC]

I was just about to post that.  I totally respect Cruz, Lee and the others.  If they aren't satisfied, the bill must be more flawed than I realized.

Yep. Same.

[Emjay]

Only if..... you buy into the meme that the GOP should now accept their perpetual era of "lowered expectations".   They are supposedly ready and willing to pass this ObamaCareLite crap via the nuclear option..... ie without that majority they supposedly need for a clean repeal bill.  So why the hell can't they come up with and pass a full repeal bill via the nuke option, like they promised voters they would do if and when put in majority control power.   Why?  Because they lied and never intended to do what they promised.  That's what I'm firmly convinced of now.   And the left didn't do it to them.  They did it to themselves.

I wish they would just repeal the Obamacare altogether and I don't know why they can't or won't.  This should be a lesson to everyone who voted for the Republicans who refuse to pass total repeal.  I don't know how many Senators are up for re-election in '18 but this should be an issue.  My senator is up for re-election and I would vote for him 100 times if I could but I can't for two reasons.

One, I don't live in Texas anymore and two, they won't let you vote 100 times unless you're a democrat.

[roamer_1]

Obviously..... the GOP presenting that bill was all for show....Kabuki theatre.... to protect their phony baloney jobs.  And the voting right fell for it.... again.   I can't speak for other voters on the right, but I will never fall for that BS again.  That's one thing I DO know.

FINE. Let em vote on it now so the naysayers can be positively identified and many of them taken out in 2 years.

What this is, is a skirt for them to hide behind... They will say, in unison, "Gee, it's the best we could do... if it wasn't for those rascally Conservatives mucking it all up..."

Watch and see.

[Free Vulcan]

We need a solution that is fiscally sound for all, not just a reshuffling of the ACA for political expediency.

[XenaLee]

FINE. Let em vote on it now so the naysayers can be positively identified and many of them taken out in 2 years.

What this is, is a skirt for them to hide behind... They will say, in unison, "Gee, it's the best we could do... if it wasn't for those rascally Conservatives mucking it all up..."

Watch and see.

They always end up blaming "the Conservatives" for every screw-up and failure of theirs.   We are their "go to" scapegoat.   But it's not the Conservatives that created this problem.  It is, however, the Conservatives that are pushing for a clean repeal, as promised. It's the RINOs (like Bitch McConnell and Snake McCain) that are pushing for a "patch & fix" ObamaCareLite solution to the problem ObamaCare presents. 

[Sanguine]

I was just about to post that.  I totally respect Cruz, Lee and the others.  If they aren't satisfied, the bill must be more flawed than I realized.

 

[INVAR]

Too many people would rather whine than get something done.

You don't get it.

WE DON'T WANT SOMETHING "DONE" with Obamacare, as in massaging it along and mitigating the pain and damage until they can institute Single Payer.  The only thing we want done is that IT BE MADE GONE.

Period.

End of sentence.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I wish they would just repeal the Obamacare altogether and I don't know why they can't or won't. 

What would you do with the 10.4 million* insured through Obamacare as of June 2017 @Emjay ?  This is a pretty big stumbling block to outright repeal.

* (http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/21/news/economy/obamacare-enrollment-record/index.html)

[Cripplecreek]

You don't get it.

WE DON'T WANT SOMETHING "DONE" with Obamacare, as in massaging it along and mitigating the pain and damage until they can institute Single Payer.  The only thing we want done is that IT BE MADE GONE.

Period.

End of sentence.

Liberalism: WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!!!!!!

Conservatism: Lets figure out a plan for moving forward that won't leave our grandchildren destitute and in chains.

[truth_seeker]

What difference does that make?  I never trusted McConnell anyway.  This sounds like a bill that ... while far from perfect ... is pretty good and should be passed.

Ronald Reagan:

"I’m not retreating an inch from where I was. But I also recognize this: There are some people who would have you so stand on principle that if you don’t get all that you’ve asked for from the legislature, why, you jump off the cliff with the flag flying.

I have always figured that a half a loaf is better than none, and I know that in the democratic process you’re not going to always get everything you want. So, I think what they’ve misread is times in which I have compromised — for example, our entire economic program."

https://tbrickert.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/the-wisdom-of-ronalad-reagan-and-the-real-reason-the-world-didnt-end/

I await Cruz' vote, and if in favor, his supporters' reactions. My prediction is that the good Senator is more like Reagan, than they are.

[INVAR]

What would you do with the 10.4 million* insured through Obamacare as of June 2017 @Emjay ?  This is a pretty big stumbling block to outright repeal.

* (http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/21/news/economy/obamacare-enrollment-record/index.html)

The last 3 large Insurance Providers in ObamaCare, Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and MD Wise are exiting the ObamaCare exchanges at the end of this month.

So the 10.4 million are going to be without insurance anyway.

Outright repeal is the bare minimum necessary for your party to salvage itself from total oblivion in 2018 at this stage.

[austingirl]

We need a solution that is fiscally sound for all, not just a reshuffling of the ACA for political expediency.

Unless the Republicans repeal the whole darned Obamacare mess as they promised, they are useless. We need free market solutions. I hope everyone contacts their "representatives" and lets them know.

[Sanguine]

What would you do with the 10.4 million* insured through Obamacare as of June 2017 @Emjay ?  This is a pretty big stumbling block to outright repeal.

* (http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/21/news/economy/obamacare-enrollment-record/index.html)

Phase them out over a year or two.  There's a number of reasonable solutions.

[Emjay]

Didn't misread at all.  You're making excuses for 7 years of the voting public being told that...if given the majority...Congress and the Senate would repeal Obamacare "root and branch".

Now that they are waffling and exposing the fact that they never intended to do what they said they would if we only sent them back to D.C. and despite all the evidence of how much of a drain this POS is on the American economy and on the finances of every single American forced to pay into it...letting us know they have no intention of repealing it...just thinking they can manage the failure better...out come the people making excuses for them with tripe like "it's the best we can hope for" blah blah blah.

It's that kind of weak kneed back tracking ineptitude that allows the Dems to win even when they are in the minority and why the only group of people hated more than child molesters in America are politicians.

This kind of feckless back tracking will be the reason that the GOP loses majorities in the House and Senate during the mid terms.  They didn't learn from W's waffling and weak leadership heading into the 2006 mid terms.  He missed tons of chances to push the Conservative agenda and push back the Dem's Liberal advance and he didn't.  And America paid a price.

But I guess you'd have said back then too that it was "the best we could hope for".

Now Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are about to shaft America again.  They can't beg us to send them back so they can repeal Obamacare...we now know they lied to us and the voters will make them pay at the ballot box unless they do the right thing and get rid of this monstrosity for good.

I wasn't making excuses... I just thought that a bill ... even if flawed ... needed to be passed.

I don't want to send McConnell back.  I want him on his porch in his rocking chair. 

I don't want to send any squishy non-conservative Senators back at all.  We have two Texas Republican Senators and I would give up John Cornyn in a minute for a conservative.

But what can we realistically do now?  I'm not arguing with you... I want Obamacare repealed, burned and the ground salted.

But I thought we should pass something.

Maybe I'm wrong.  Ted Cruz thinks I am and he's smarter than I am.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Outright repeal is the bare minimum necessary for your party to salvage itself from total oblivion in 2018 at this stage.

 :talkhand:

[roamer_1]

What would you do with the 10.4 million* insured through Obamacare as of June 2017 @Emjay ?  This is a pretty big stumbling block to outright repeal.

@Right_in_Virginia

No one cried a tear when folks lost their insurance due to Obamacare. Why should this be any different?

[austingirl]

Phase them out over a year or two.  There's a number of reasonable solutions.

Yes, there are! I just emailed Lamar Smith, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn demanding FULL repeal of Obamacare. The Republicans simply cannot act like the majority party. Disgusting. The cowards voted SIXTY times to repeal when Bammy was in office and cannot do so now?

[Emjay]

@Right_in_Virginia

No one cried a tear when folks lost their insurance due to Obamacare. Why should this be any different?

Isn't Obamacare an egregious failure now?  I mean what's going on with the people forced to participate in Obamacare?  Couldn't they find alternative (and better) coverage?

[INVAR]

Ronald Reagan:

"I’m not retreating an inch from where I was. But I also recognize this: There are some people who would have you so stand on principle that if you don’t get all that you’ve asked for from the legislature, why, you jump off the cliff with the flag flying.

I have always figured that a half a loaf is better than none, and I know that in the democratic process you’re not going to always get everything you want. So, I think what they’ve misread is times in which I have compromised — for example, our entire economic program."

https://tbrickert.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/the-wisdom-of-ronalad-reagan-and-the-real-reason-the-world-didnt-end/

I await Cruz' vote, and if in favor, his supporters' reactions. My prediction is that the good Senator is more like Reagan, than they are.

We keep getting promised a loaf during elections, then they tell us that we must negotiate for at-best, half a loaf because that is all we can realistically hope for - and then we get nothing, except more Socialism and Democrat agenda wins.

The excuse-making for betrayal and abandonment of Conservative principles by citing Reagan has no merit given the last several decades.

We are now a Socialist Democracy heading to full blown Communism thanks to that line of reasoning.

[roamer_1]

Isn't Obamacare an egregious failure now?  I mean what's going on with the people forced to participate in Obamacare?  Couldn't they find alternative (and better) coverage?

I have no idea. Every house in my greater house is without insurance now, except my two sons - one is LEO and covered by the county, and the other is IT for a major insurance company.

I take that back... My elder sister still has insurance too - her old man is a tenured professer and covered by the university.