After emotional speech about getting back to a real legislative process, John McCain derails an attempt to deliver something, anything for President Trump to sign.
Years of brutal partisanship, studies, polls, promises and threats came to a climax on the Senate floor at 1:30 am Friday.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), returned to...
Deep divisions between the visions of moderate and conservative senators remain.
In the last 24 hours there has been a lot of activity in the Senate. Tuesday a vote was called on a motion to proceed with debate. 51 yes votes were required. Senator John McCain flew to Washington, though receiving treatment for a recently diagnosed...National News
George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund predict the effects on jobs.
Much of the debate over the “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act has centered on how many Americans would lose insurance.
Repealing the law, would dramatically scale back federal funding...
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make a decision "soon" on which bill to bring up for a vote, depending on ongoing discussions with GOP senators.
GOP leaders are determined to vote this week on their years-long quest to demolish the Affordable Care Act, even though the goal remains mired in political and substantive...
Attitudes evolve.
A self-described fiscal hawk, Jeff Brahin, now says, “Now that you’ve insured an additional 20 million people, you can’t just take the insurance away from these people.” “It’s just not the right thing to do.”
Polls show support for the Affordable Care Act growing since the 2016 election. Republican...National News
A draft analysis was exposed as senators met with Trump Wednesday.
Findings from the draft report drew immediate criticism from health policy experts as opaque and misleading. The forecasts in the draft analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services are exactly opposite from what many experts predict.
The HHS analysis did...National News
If at first you don't succeed, try another goal.
Facing the August recess, Congress must decide how to spend the time remaining this year before the 2018 election year begins.
Read about what conservative political action groups are planning to spend millions of dollars supporting as the prospects of ACA repeal and replace fade....Arizona News
The controversial Republican health care overhaul faces a perilous path forward.
"There are about eight to 10 Republican senators who have serious concerns about this bill," Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on CNN's State of the Union. "So at the end of the day, I don't know whether it will pass." Read of concerns from...Arizona News
The absence of even one Republican senator imperils passage.
Saturday the Majority Leader announced the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act will not be brought to the floor for consideration as previously announced. McConnell noted that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) had significant surgery and will be recovering in Arizona for an...
Updates include a continuation of the net investment income tax, the Medicare Health Insurance Tax and a tax on wealthy health insurance execs.
The newest revision of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) adds about $43 billion to fight opioid abuse and includes a remix of Sen. Ted Cruz's amendment that allows insurers...
The stated intent is to inject consumer choice and competition.
Hoping to win over conservatives, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Utah Senator Mike Lee's "Consumer Freedom Option", would allow insurance companies to sell any health coverage plan they wish, so long as they also provide one plan that satisfies the mandates of the Affordable...National News
Majority Leader McConnell intends to unveil a revision Thursday that would be voted on next week.
The July 4 recess let Senators spend time with constituents, nervous and vocal about proposed changes, particularly to Medicaid. Three quotes by leaders are illustrative:
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) said Tuesday that he was...
The Fund is a private foundation that supports independent research on healthcare issues. Its aim is to promote a high performing healthcare system with special emphasis on improved access, quality and efficiency for vulnerable populations.
The analysis uses changes in federal spending and revenue from 2018 to 2026 for every state to...
Enrolling a hemophiliac with complications highlights why insurers fear the individual health insurance market.
Hemophilia can lead to uncontrolled bleeding, including internal hemorrhages that can cause severe joint pain, bruising and even death. It is commonly treated with concentrated solutions of “factors,” which are proteins...Arizona News
The tightly contested BCRA pending in the US Senate gives heightened significance to how U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake will vote.
The junior senator from Arizona has not signaled how he will vote on the now-struggling Better Care Reconciliation Act. Uncertainty among Senate Republicans and poll numbers showing falling support for the repeal...National News
Forty economists, including six Nobel laureates, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) outlining their opposition.
“At a time when economic change is making life more difficult for all but the relatively well-to-do, denying people to access health insurance is a giant step in the wrong direction,” the...
Growing criticism from GOP governors may be enough to convince some Republicans to kill the Senate’s ACA repeal legislation.
Worried about state budget impacts from loss of Medicaid funding and the reduction of citizens receiving Medicaid benefits, GOP governors are exerting influence on their home-state senators, making it more...
The longer the Repeal and Replace debate drags on, the narrower the window for passing tax cuts.
Markets stumbled in March when ACA repeal looked to be in danger, diminishing investor confidence that President Trump can push through his fiscal agenda of tax cuts and infrastructure spending. On Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite led the...National News
Leadership had hoped to bring the bill to the floor before the recess.
The delay reflects important things. The critical need for at least 50 solid votes. The 50 are not solidly predictable. It highlights the challenge facing the GOP leadership as they try to close the gap between conservatives and moderates in the party. While the...Arizona News
The picture is developing of what the impacts are likely to be.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce predicted in a letter to U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake that the Senate bill would harm the state's economy and "blow a hole" in the state budget.
Hospital and health leaders are particularly worried about the proposed reductions...
