Don't Tell the President, But Congress Is Quietly Planning a Bipartisan, Non-Insane Health Care Bil

[riversedge]

well, I will believe it when I see it.


Aug. 23 2017 5:10 PM


Don't Tell the President, But Congress Is Quietly Planning a Bipartisan, Non-Insane Health Care Bill


http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/08/23/congress_surreptitiously_plans_reasonable_bipartisan_health_care_legislation.html

Earlier this year, the Republican Party attempted to follow through on promises it had been cynically making its most extreme voters for years by rushing through a destructive, wildly unpopular Affordable Care Act repeal proposal. That effort failed, barely, and now something quite strange is happening: Republicans in Congress are soliciting Democratic input in an effort to draft a modest, reasonable health care bill that will tangibly improve Americans' lives. USA Today has the strange story:


Senators looking for ways to stabilize the individual health insurance market will hear from governors and state health insurance commissioners at their first bipartisan hearings next month.

The hearings, set for Sept. 6-7, will focus on stabilizing premiums and helping people in the individual market.

Today, the committtee holding the hearings—the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, led by Republican Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray—.................................................................................
Trump will ruin all of this, no doubt, with Twitter, and racism.

[mcar]

1. Could cooler heads be prevailing?

One hopes.

[riversedge]

3. Lamar A was a cool head at the beginning, then he got appointed to the 12 all male health

panal. the rest is history.

[vi5]

2. Bipartisan means including Republican politicians...

.....which means that it will suck and be horrible for the American people.

The only improvement that can be made to the ACA is MORE coverage and EXPANDED benefits, which are not going to happen. Therefore any Democrats engaging with Republicans will do nothing but harm the ACA and the American people.

[VOX]

5. Precisely. They're not going to get all warm and fuzzy over healthcare...

The GOP will in no way hold in high regard the actual human lives involved, policy-wise.

[vi5]

6. Yeah, well....

Many of our Democrats hear "bipartisan" and start salivating and falling all over themselves to see how much they can give up to Republicans to get that sweet, sweet bipartisan cred.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. I'll wait to see where this goes

but it's hopeful that at least Republicans- at least in the Senate- are no longer quite so united on repealing ACA the way they were before. Given the situation in the House and Trump, it's doubtful that much will come to fruition but at least a few Republicans have found some measure of sanity. It sounds like there are some other efforts afoot, however, working with a few Senators like Cassidy to come up with a "block grant" scheme that would harm blue states and benefit red ones. This effort is being coordinated with the WH and, mysteriously, Rick Santorum, who has been out of office for more than a decade. He is so euphoric about his proposal that he believes that their proposal might even get Democratic votes too LOL.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Santorum sucks and I do not trust him for one second.

I had better start calling again...oh what fun the GOP and 45 have had with my overall health. My physical health was already poor, my mental and emotional health are worse since Nov 8th.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. I feel the same

I'm on anti-anxiety medication for the first time in my life (not just because of Trump though he is definitely a contributing factor). What I don't get is how Santorum is even involved in any of this, given that he's not held elective office since 2006.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I Don't Believe He Is

This is utter nonsense. He doesn't even know about 15 people in the Senate. I think this is a grossly exaggerated version of the actual events. He made some phone calls, few are actually listening, and there's a news story about essentially nothing.

I'm far less cynical about a bipartisan plan though. The rabies symptoms in the Senate are not as intense, and there are some reasonable repubs who can still go home and tell their constituents that they "fixed" ACA. Yeah, they didn't "repeal" it, but they made a new version that's even better. That's far more politically palatable to those voters who would have gotten shafted by the scorched earth bill they tried before.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. Santorum is probably being delusional/exaggerating

It doesn't seem like any serious effort anyway. Most Republicans seem to have (quietly) given up on repealing ACA.