Senate GOP's new health care bill expected to include controversial Cruz amendment

[mystery-ak]

Senate GOP's new health care bill expected to include controversial Cruz amendment

Some Republicans worry that the Cruz proposal could result in split risk pools.

By Burgess Everett , Jennifer Haberkorn and Sarah Karlin-Smith

07/13/2017 08:59 AM EDT

Updated 07/13/2017 09:38 AM EDT


The Senate Republicans' draft Obamacare repeal bill due to be released on Thursday will tentatively include a controversial amendment from Ted Cruz, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will unveil the bill on Thursday morning at a closed-door, members-only meeting. It is also expected to eliminate tax cuts for the wealthy, include new financial support for low-income people's insurance, allow people to pay for insurance with pre-tax money, and include billions more to fight opioid addiction.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee was advocating for the amendment with Cruz. But he is not yet supportive of the latest version because he’s unaware of its content, a spokesman for Lee said.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/13/senate-republicans-health-care-bill-cruz-lee-240498

[Applewood]

Still won't be the repeal we voters were promised. 

Why is Ted Cruz's proposal so controversial?  Because it came from Cruz?  Because it might actually benefit the people.  God forbid, we don't want to do anything to make life easier or better for the poor shlubs who lost their insurance and are now paying for crappy policies.

[Emjay]

Still won't be the repeal we voters were promised. 

Why is Ted Cruz's proposal so controversial?  Because it came from Cruz?  Because it might actually benefit the people.  God forbid, we don't want to do anything to make life easier or better for the poor shlubs who lost their insurance and are now paying for crappy policies.

I'm not sure how controversial it is.  I know McConnell is bitterly jealous of Cruz and would not push it. 

I think Cruz's amendment may make the bill palatable if they include it.  It will be interesting to see how Lee comes out on the final proposed bill.

[bilo]

Still won't be the repeal we voters were promised. 

Why is Ted Cruz's proposal so controversial?  Because it came from Cruz?  Because it might actually benefit the people.  God forbid, we don't want to do anything to make life easier or better for the poor shlubs who lost their insurance and are now paying for crappy policies.

Cruz's amendment is controversial because in giving freedom to individuals the fear is the vast majority of individual insurance purchasers will choose to buy non obamacare policies. By doing so, the purchasers will keep their doctors and be able to go to the hospitals/clinics they want. As a result obamacare will attract people with pre-existing conditions, acute and chronic. Over time obamacare will become a nationalized high risk pool subsidized by all tax payers not predominantly people who are in the individual market.

Also, by allowing individuals to buy non obamacare policies medicaid will probably shrink. The working lower class and young adults will be more inclined to buy major medical policies that let them see the doctors they prefer rather than being stuck in poorly run hospitals with doctors who take medicaid out of necessity.

[Sanguine]

Cruz's amendment is controversial because in giving freedom to individuals the fear is the vast majority of individual insurance purchasers will choose to buy non obamacare policies. By doing so, the purchasers will keep their doctors and be able to go to the hospitals/clinics they want. As a result obamacare will attract people with pre-existing conditions, acute and chronic. Over time obamacare will become a nationalized high risk pool subsidized by all tax payers not predominantly people who are in the individual market.

Also, by allowing individuals to buy non obamacare policies medicaid will probably shrink. The working lower class and young adults will be more inclined to buy major medical policies that let them see the doctors they prefer rather than being stuck in poorly run hospitals with doctors who take medicaid out of necessity.

Good summation. 

[Emjay]

Cruz's amendment is controversial because in giving freedom to individuals the fear is the vast majority of individual insurance purchasers will choose to buy non obamacare policies. By doing so, the purchasers will keep their doctors and be able to go to the hospitals/clinics they want. As a result obamacare will attract people with pre-existing conditions, acute and chronic. Over time obamacare will become a nationalized high risk pool subsidized by all tax payers not predominantly people who are in the individual market.

Also, by allowing individuals to buy non obamacare policies medicaid will probably shrink. The working lower class and young adults will be more inclined to buy major medical policies that let them see the doctors they prefer rather than being stuck in poorly run hospitals with doctors who take medicaid out of necessity.

Also, I believe it allows people to buy low-cost calamity policies which is what most young people prefer and need.

[Applewood]

FWIW -- this allegedly is the latest draft of the bill.

https://www.scribd.com/mobile/document/353690068/Senate-Republicans-updated-healthcare-bill?skip_app_promo=true

[corbe]

   Cruz's amendment is only for show, it wasn't even submitted (in it's entirety) to the CBO for scoring, McConnell will yank it to get his Moderates on Board, again disenfranchising Cruz, Lee and Paul.  This turkey is D.O.A.
    As I mentioned earlier this week, Mitch and Chucky will prop up the exchanges in a few weeks, a beautiful thing and Trump will call it winning.
    ACA is here to stay, folks.  hate to be the party pooper and I hope I'm wrong, but, I've seen this movie too. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grYBKcuWowM

[corbe]

Senate GOP may not use CBO to score Cruz amendment

 By Nathaniel Weixel - 07/13/17 02:15 PM EDT 

Senate Republicans may not use the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to score a version of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) controversial amendment that was included in the updated Senate healthcare bill.

Instead, a member of Senate GOP leadership said analysis from the Trump administration — including the Health and Human Services Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget — might be used instead of the nonpartisan CBO.

That could provide a much more favorable analysis for the bill. The CBO found that the House bill repealing and replacing ObamaCare would lead to 23 million people being uninsured over a decade. Analysis from HHS found the number to be 13 million.

“I think we’ll get other feedback from HHS, [the White House Office of Management and Budget] and others who also have models that can take into consideration” the impacts of the bill, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Thursday.
The unusual move would be highly controversial and a major departure from using the CBO, which has been the traditional scorekeeper for legislation. Thune said CBO would probably take too long to analyze Cruz’s provision, since the language was only sent to CBO last week.

Conservatives have been attempting to discredit the CBO’s scoring methods, and the White House this week released its own internal analysis of the Medicaid portions of the Senate bill.


<..snip..>

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/341904-senate-gop-may-not-use-cbo-to-score-cruz-amendment

[Frandia]

Still won't be the repeal we voters were promised. 

Why is Ted Cruz's proposal so controversial?  Because it came from Cruz?  Because it might actually benefit the people.  God forbid, we don't want to do anything to make life easier or better for the poor shlubs who lost their insurance and are now paying for crappy policies.

It's never going to get repealed as long as there is a RINO Senate leader named McConnell. And yes if it was a democrat proposing the same thing as Cruz happiness would be breaking out all over Utopia.