The sinking of Trumpcare
Two Republican senators have deflected the Trump Administration's new health proposal, condemning it to die even before it reaches the floor of the Senate.
Trump's promise was blunt: replacing Obamacare; and the Republican majority, led by Mitch McConnell, was willing to do anything to keep his word. But as if they were doing the homework the day before, the project did not manage to convince even the members of its own party.
Just hours after the Senate adjourned Monday, Republican Senators Jerry Moran (Kansas) and Mike Lee (Utah) told McConnell they would not support his bill, joining Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Susan Collins (Maine) in refusing the project.
"Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," McConnell said in a statement on Monday, admitting the lack of necessary votes for approval of his project. He also said that the Senate would vote in the coming days for a measure that would delay Obamacare's repeal for two years, according to CNN.
But Moran and Lee's remarks went a step further: not only will they not support the bill, but they believe it can not be debated and that work should begin on a proposal from scratch, preferably in conjunction with the Democratic Party.
"We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy. Furthermore, if we leave the federal government in control of everyday healthcare decisions, it is more likely that our healthcare system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase," Moran said in his statement.
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Similarly, Lee argued his decision stating, "in addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn't go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations,"
But it was the American insurer community that delivered the final blow to their project, breaking their silence to declare that the provision of the Republican proposal that suggested the sale of low-cost health plans was simply "unworkable", as it would increase premiums and undermine the protections of people with pre-existing conditions.
For his part, Trump did not seem to understand the seriousness of the matter. All that really matters to him is the symbol of Obamacare's repeal. So he said through his Twitter account:
McConnell's inability to keep his promise to the president - despite delaying the vote, holding the majority of his party in a supportive stance, and dispensing with the Democrats in every way - is a consequence of the pride and pressure that has characterized this new administration.
But this failure - with a flavor of mediocrity - will not remain there. The citizens will not forget the fact that the Republicans had even supported such a cruel measure. As Meredith Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Democrat Campaign Committee, said, “house Republicans all own a bill that would strip health care from 23 million Americans and raise costs for millions more, and it will haunt them in 2018,” referring to the parliamentary elections.
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