Posted on 09/25/2017 3:20:27 PM PDT by Alter Kaker
WASHINGTON — Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Monday that she would oppose the latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders clearly short of the votes they need for passage.
Ms. Collins, a Republican, announced her opposition in a written statement, delivering a significant and possibly fatal blow to the party’s seven-year quest to dismantle the health law.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They would have outlawed most kinds of private health insurance (not clear to me that they can target self insured plans) and forced price controls on doctors and hospitals. Graham-Cassidy made that kind of inevitable by sharply cutting funding for CA to implement Obamacare while leaving the mandate in place - and giving the state far more power to create their own system. Give a socialist an inch...
Who is going to be surprised at this?
What surprises me is it’s a Graham (well, 1/2 anyway)sponsored bill and he, Collins and McCain have always been joined at the hip and yet two of those idiots are opposing it. Why doesn’t the state of ME oppose Susan Collins as a Republican for crying out loud? I believe it was ME’s governor who was on TV over the weekend urging support of the legislation. Kelly Ayotte, another of the staunch McCain/Graham duo, bit the dust in the last election and that was one traitor down - more to go!!!
I wrote in someone else....I didn’t vote for this witch.
Most of her voters come from the First Congressional district....it covers 20% of Maine and includes Portland, Me., which is moonbat central. It is also the most heavily populated portion of the state.
The Second Congressional district is the more conservative area. Trump carried this district by 10 points. The Second District covers 80% of the state, 27,000 square miles, and is more rural.
The dems always run some obscure moonbat female state senator against Collins; the obscure moonbat makes Collins look good by comparison, which she is NOT.
In other words, people like me in California just dodged a bullet.
Good let them, and it will work as well as the Pensions in NJ, CT, CA, IL, and all of their other workers paradises. This would work as long as they get "X" as their block grant and don't dare come and ask for more when it implodes because you ain't getting it.
While the "R" states combine HSA's w/ Direct Primary Care ( look up what Avik Roy has to say about it ) and steal even more jobs and industries from the failing single payer Blue States, the free market solution will become more evident.
It's funny you say that. Their is a burly blogger that people have linked to over @ CTH and I can't remember his name. His theory? Remember the mental gymnastics Justice Roberts went through to justify Obamacare? This blogger has made the case it essentially gave POTUS plenary powers to do just that use and Exec-Order to rescind Obamacare. I am not an attorney and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express or play one on TV. However legal types reading this guys logic are saying holy crap, you are on to something. Any Freepers here know the guy I am speaking of and does his theory hold water? Did he uncover a hidden gem, or does his theory have a fundamental flaw?
Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.
They have been flooding that state for years and years.
The get themselves involved in school boards, elected as selectmen - even governor. They know what’s best for the state of Maine and the deplorable natives of the state.
Some of the most vile people you’ll ever meet.
Vote her and the other GOPe RINO weasels out at the first opportunity.
I have not voted on the GOP line unless there is no other for the candidate. I am through with them.
This is the best thing that could have happened. How can the sheeple abide the end of free market capitalism in the medical arena. I owe nothing to people that dont buy insurance. I have a finite amount of net disposable income to which I apply priorities including food, clothing, shelter, beer and health insurance. I don’t want to pay for your health insurance. That is communism, That is obamacare . Tha WAS “REPUBLICAN HEATHCARE”. But it is dead ,thank God. Obamacare will soon collapse and then we return to free market healthcare. Im not interested in paying for YOUR preexisting condition either!!
Yep.
The entire thing is a charade.
Sorry, if you’re trying to imply that Collins will vote against this because she’s some kind of crypto-conservative...she’s not.
The mandate was actually revoked by Trump earlier in the summer, although it may still exist in certain areas that refuse to acknowledge anything he does.
Letting each state control this is much better. Interestingly, I read an article in the WSJ today about how states that accepted the Obamacare Medicaid money have as much as 200% more opioid addiction, because Obamacare forces people to go to the ER, which is the only place that will accept Medicaid’s lousy reimbursement. Docs in the ER are just pressured to deal with all these people and hand out pain pills like candy.
Giving the states control over this money as block grants would be much better for the health of all concerned. And it would be much cheaper and allow affordable choices for the middle class. My small-business owner, young, healthy kids are seriously hurting since their insurance is now twice their mortgage payment. But Dems and crypto-Dems such as Collins and McCain don’t give a fig for people like my kids.
There need to be other parties besides the Democrat Republican Uniparty.
McCain, Lyn’ Ted, Collins... all refusing to kill Obamacare.
Why did you ignore listing Lyn’ Ted. He has been out with all of them saying No. Even now he is headlining FoxNews. Good riddance to all of them.
They probably just want to “barely win” / break even to keep their powerful committee chairmanships but not really have any power to change the status quo - or at least not have enough that they can used it as an excuse.
It kind of creates a paradoxical situation - we need to deliver them landslide victory they apparently don’t want and don’t deserve to shake up this mold. If the base is motivated and the political winds are at our backs, we could, theoretically, have a net gain of 10 seats next year. That would sure shake things up - not only in numbers, but that would make a full tenth of the Senate be entirely new blood...probably something they aren’t comfortable with...so they probably just want to win enough to break even or maybe pick up a couple of seats, but no more so the apple cart stays put where it is.
So how do we motivate a base that is angry with the GOP into showing up and delivering a landslide to take away any excuses not to get at least a few major pieces of legislation passed? That’s the quandary...
At about 3:30 I received an email from the president of the Maine State Employees Association, MSEA-SEIU. Senator Collins voted exactly the way the SEIU told her too.
Dear MSEA-SEIU Member,
Senator Susan Collin needs to hear from you RIGHT AWAY. Please call her using the numbers listed below. Respectfully ask her to stay strong and vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy healthcare repeal bill.
Tell Senator Collins the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill would dismantle both the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid coverage programs. Tell her this proposal would result in large and growing cuts for most states in the near term and all states in the longer term:
Washington, D.C.: 202-224-2523
Augusta: 622-8414
In Solidarity,
Ramona Welton
President, MSEA-SEIU Local 1989
Watch the episode of "COPS" filmed in the early to mid 1990s when they went to Moscow just after the fall of the USSR. They went to a Moscow ER where a guy was getting stitched up for some stab wounds. I've seen more sanitary conditions in a truck stop rest room.
Coming soon to an ER near you.
Looks like they hate us back. Bastards, all of them.
Remember she was the deciding vote that voted Obamacare out of committe originally and to the floor.
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