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The Graham-Cassidy Scam It appears that Graham-Cassidy, the latest "repeal and replace" load of nonsense out of the Republican Party, is doomed. The option to pass such "one party only" supported bills expires on September 30th in the Senate. That's when the reconciliation option runs out, at which point standard rules in the Senate apply -- if there is a filibuster you need 60 votes to proceed, and obviously you won't get them without at least some people crossing the aisle. Graham-Cassidy, in summary, would take Medicaid and turn it into a block grant -- in other words, a pile...

Well, here we are in that last possible moment for healthcare reform under budget reconciliation. That simply means the GOP controlled Senate has until the end of this month, just a few days, to come to a consensus on a healthcare reform legislation that owns up to their promise. They had promised to repeal and replace Obamacare for, what, seven years or so? They had stated they just needed the House of Representatives…done. Then they decried, we need to have the US Senate…granted. Then they pleaded, please give us the White House…trifecta. And then Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell of...

John McCain has once again shown he has no loyalty to his party, his friends, or to his voters. In likely torpedoing what may prove Republicans’ last effort to rid the country of ObamaCare, McCain evinced the nostalgia of an old man for better times. He wants the Senate to operate as it once did, with bipartisan comity and regular order. Yes, and I’d like to return to the days when kids were addicted to twilight stickball rather than video games. Those gentler times are long gone. What we have now is a bitterly divided Congress, and country. Democrat leaders...

A significant deadline is approaching. The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and with it this year’s opportunity to use reconciliation to reform and replace ObamaCare. Time is running out to make changes that will devolve any power back to the people and the states, a component of federalism. For Republicans, it may be the last chance to fulfill any aspect of the promise that they have campaigned on for over eight years. Hesitant politicians in Congress should support this effort through the Graham-Cassidy bill, despite its shortcomings. Senator Rand Paul, a physician, has argued for a complete repeal...

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote “no” on an Affordable Care Act repeal bill on Friday morning at an event in Portland. “I’m leaning against the bill,” the Maine Republican said after listing a series of serious deficiencies in the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill. “I’m just trying to do what I believe is the right thing for the people of Maine,” Collins said. She said Graham-Cassidy undermines pre-existing conditions, a major flaw in the bill. “I’m reading the fine print on Graham-Cassidy,” Collins said. She said insurers could charge sky-high rates to people with pre-existing conditions. “The...

GLENWOOD,GA ― If you want to watch a rural community die, kill its hospital. After the Lower Oconee Community Hospital shut down in June 2014, other mainstays of the community followed. The bank and the pharmacy in the small town of Glenwood shuttered. Then the only grocery store in all of Wheeler County closed in the middle of August this year. On Glenwood’s main street, building after building is now for sale, closing, falling apart or infested with weeds growing through the foundation’s cracks. Opportunity has been dying in Wheeler County for the last 20 years. Agriculture was once the...

This summary describes key provisions of a proposal by Senators Graham, Cassidy, Heller, and Johnson. drafted as an amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 1628, the House-passed bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has been trashing the Graham-Cassidy health care bill all over town. Introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the legislation is the GOP's last chance to repeal Obamacare. The Rhode Island Democrat seemed well briefed on what's in the bill when he spit all over it on CNN Thursday. https://youtu.be/m44SoPF1xqo>Sen. Whitehouse Slams Graham-Cassidy Bill Before Admitting He has 'Not Read the Language' "For starters, you don't protect pre-existing conditions when you allow states to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, which this bill does," Whitehouse said. "Second, he focuses only on the states that...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the Republicans' last-resort "Obamacare" repeal effort remains two or three votes short, forecasting days of furious lobbying ahead with a crucial deadline looming next week. The legislation by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina would repeal major pillars of former President Barack Obama's health law, replacing them with block grants to states to design their own health care programs. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to round up 50 votes to pass the legislation before Sept. 30, when special rules preventing a Democratic filibuster will expire. [Snip] Democrats made their...

Amazon is reportedly communicating with pharmacy benefit managers about potential drug contracts, according to a Leerink Partners analysis cited by CNBC. Amazon has been hiring more healthcare leaders and expanding its drug and medical supply distribution in recent months, spurring rumors the online retailer is stepping into the pharmacy business. The company may "indeed be in conversations with some middle-market PBMs now, in an effort to get into various contract arrangements," the Leerink analysis states, adding that Amazon could pose a "bigger threat" to the pharmaceutical industry than many individuals expect. However, it could take 18 months to 24 months...

President Donald Trump would sign the Graham-Cassidy bill if the legislation to repeal Obamacare makes it to his desk, an administration official told CNN Tuesday, as the White House launched a full-court press on Capitol Hill. The White House has been working with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana for weeks on the new effort. A second source added that Trump himself had quietly encouraged the two senators to take another shot at health care. Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials are on Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby Republican senators on the...

Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All Act, introduced last week, outlaws private health insurance. Curiously, not one of the Democratic presidential wannabes crowding around Sanders for photo ops mentioned this alarming fact. If Sanders has his way, 180 million Americans who currently have private coverage would have it ripped away and be automatically enrolled in public insurance. Kids would be enrolled at birth. "Medicare for All" doesn't just offer government health insurance to the needy. It makes private coverage illegal, including the health plan you get at your job. Employers are prohibited from covering workers, retirees, and their families. (Sec. 107,...

Former President Obama decided to voice his frustration at attempts by members of Congress to repeal his flawed health care law, noting that it’s “aggravating” to see our leaders try to inflict human pain on the population. He was speaking at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event. The purpose of Goalkeepers is to accelerate world progress and highlighting figures that are joining the movement to spur global change.While he didn’t specifically name the political party or persons involved with repealing his health care overhaul that he says saved lives and ensured that 90 percent of Americans have health...

ABC’s self-described “eating pizza” expert, Jimmy Kimmel was at it again on Tuesday, admittedly politicizing his son’s medical condition to push for socialized medicine. This time he was targeting Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Senate Republicans with disgusting charges of aiming to do cruel things with the lives and health care of Americans. In all, Kimmel’s description painted the GOP as villains in a straight-to-DVD Hollywood flop. “And this new bill actually does pass the Jimmy Kimmel Test, but a different Jimmy Kimmel Test,” he declared, noting that Cassidy wanted his bill to live up to Kimmel’s situation. “This one,...

New York (CNN)Former President Barack Obama said Wednesday there are no practical benefits to a bill Republicans are considering to replace the Affordable Care Act. Speaking in New York, Obama said the bill would increase costs and strip coverage from vulnerable Americans. "When I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress, for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that will raise costs, reduce coverage and roll back protections for older Americans and people with pre-existing conditions ... it is aggravating," Obama said during an event sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Obama said it was essential to...

If Sanders has his way, 180 million Americans who currently have private coverage would have it ripped away and be automatically enrolled in public insurance. Kids would be enrolled at birth. Medicare for All doesn’t just offer government health insurance to the needy. It makes private coverage illegal, including the health coverage you get at your job. Employers are prohibited from covering workers, retirees and their families. Sanders’ bill raises a critical question: If you’re seriously ill, will you be able to get the care you need? BernieCare guarantees you hospital care, doctors’ visits, dental and vision care, mental health...

Internal Department of Veterans Affairs data provided by whistleblowers reveals the agency is only filling about half of its capacity to make medical appointments, even as veterans continue to wait an average of at least 30 days before a medical appointment can be scheduled. The VA documents show that between July and September of 2017, the agency only used 51.44 percent of the appointments available across its healthcare system. VA documents also show there are currently 184,520 veterans across the nation waiting longer than 30 days for an appointment and more than 45,000 new veteran patients waiting more than 90...

Americans are not prepared to take big chunks out of their paychecks for socialized medicine, and they’re not keen to move far left. Today is single-payer day. Bernie Sanders is introducing the Medicare for All Act of 2017, and this time he’s no lone socialist crying in the progressive wilderness. A total of 15 Democratic senators are backing his bill, including most of the top Democratic contenders for the presidency. As the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake observed yesterday, “The dam is breaking.” The New Republic, among others, is even arguing that single-payer is becoming the newest “litmus test” for the...

Democrats may be hoping to gain a midterm wave. They may be hoping even more to boot Donald J. Trump from the White House in 2020. The president’s response to the Charlottesville violence, the rolling back of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, Russian collusion hysteria, the slow pace of enacting his agenda—all of these things have Democrats grinning, expect that they shouldn’t. The party’s own operatives and data crunchers have run through the numbers based on focus groups, and Democrats are still heading for the electoral ditch. They still have yet to mount an effective attack against the...

Sarai was 25 years old when she died of Wilson’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes liver failure. A liver transplant could have cured her, but she was uninsured and was denied an appointment at two prominent Chicago transplant hospitals, including my own. Sarai’s plight was brought to my attention when a local religious group held a hunger strike advocating transplant access for Sarai and other uninsured patients. When she died, her congregation marched seven miles, holding her photograph and lugging coffins emblazoned with her name, to launch a sit-in in front of Northwestern University Hospital. Her death certificate named...