Thursday-Morning Quarterbacking: Why The GOP Failed Again To Kill Obamacare And How The ACA Managed To Survive
Editorial pages continue parsing what happened earlier this week in the Senate when Graham-Cassidy, the most recent GOP repeal-and-replace legislation, failed to garner enough votes for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring it to the floor for a vote.
Bloomberg:
Seven Reasons Republicans Couldn't Kill Obamacare
First: Voters have feared every attempt by politicians to change their health-care arrangements. That sentiment helped defeat President Bill Clinton’s proposed overhaul in 1994. It forced President Barack Obama to devote half his sales job on his health-care law to reassuring people they could keep their doctors and insurance plans. This year, public wariness of change worked against the Republicans. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 9/27)
Vox:
Why Obamacare Survived
The secret to Obamacare’s persistence is that the American people want the health care system made better — by which they mean they want more people to have affordable health insurance — and Obamacare achieves that goal. By contrast, the GOP, at every single turn, has offered plans to make the system worse. (Ezra Klein, 9/27)
Bloomberg:
Graham-Cassidy's Death Is No Sure Relief
Shares of insurance companies with Obamacare exposure rallied Tuesday on news the Senate will not vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill, the GOP's latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But the rally has been small, likely reflecting the fact that the measure's chances of passage were always fairly slim -- and the GOP may not give up on this effort even after another bruising defeat. (Max Nisen, 9/27)
Lexington Herald Leader:
Reviled By GOP Right Wing, McConnell Should Try — Gasp! — Working With Democrats
There are other, even better reasons for McConnell to reach across the aisle and engage in — gasp! — bipartisanship: Americans are sick of a Congress that seems incapable of accomplishing anything. McConnell vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act someday but first wants tax reform. There are, however, urgent health-care matters that require bipartisan cooperation. At risk are 27 million Americans — including about 175,000 Kentuckians — who buy their insurance on the individual market or are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program, plus many more who are partially covered by CHIP. Happily, before everything was stopped to make way for the latest doomed ACA-repeal, Republicans and Democrats were working together to stabilize the individual market and fund CHIP which expires Sept. 30. They were working through committees — the “regular order” that McConnell once promised to restore. Sen. John McCain cited the flouting of Senate order — no hearings, debates or amendments — for his opposition which helped kill his party’s health-care bill. (9/27)
Arizona Republic:
John McCain Wants To Fix A Senate (And Obamacare) That Doesn't Exist
John McCain is clearly on a mission to redeem the U.S. Senate, to save it from what McCain regards as its wayward ways. But in his announcement of his opposition to Graham-Cassidy, McCain depicts a Senate that is a fantasy. (Robert Robb, 9/27)
Arizona Republic:
Doug Ducey Sides With Donald Trump Over Arizonans' Health Care, Jobs
Gov. Doug Ducey appears determined to turn a win-win situation for himself into a lose-lose. He’s sticking with his support of the now-failed Graham-Cassidy bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and been a total disaster for Arizona. (EJ Montini, 9/27)
