Thread: Sens. Susan Collins, Rand Paul express doubts about Senate health care bill

Sens. Susan Collins, Rand Paul express doubts about Senate health care bill

By JOY LIN
Jun 25, 2017, 1:16 PM ET

Sen. Rand Paul, one of the key Republicans senators in the ongoing health care battle, said on Sunday that his party has "promised too much" with trying to fix the health care system and assuring that the cost of premiums will be lowered.

“They've promised too much. They say they're going to fix health care and premiums are going to down,” Paul said on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" of his party's health care plan unveiled Thursday. "There's no way the Republican bill brings down premiums."

As an ophthalmologist with 20 years of experience practicing medicine, Paul argued, “Premiums have never gone down. They're not going to go down after the Republican bill."

Paul added, "And it's a false, sort of over-promising to say, 'Oh, yes, insurance premiums are going to go down but we're keeping 10 of the 12 mandates that caused the prices to go up.' It's a foolish notion to promise something you can't provide.”

As one of five Republican senators that announced opposition to the bill in its current form, Paul said he would consider voting for partial repeal of Obamacare, if there’s a stalemate, but argued the Senate bill “isn’t anywhere close to repeal.”

“What we can do is if they cannot get 50 votes, if they get to impasse, I've been telling leadership for months now I'll vote for a repeal," Paul said. "And it doesn't have to be 100 percent repeal. So, for example, I'm for 100 percent repeal, that's what I want. But if you offer me 90 percent repeal, I'd probably would vote it. I might vote for 80 percent repeal.”

Paul also proposed whittling down the current version of the bill to areas where Republicans have agreement, and tackling contentious issues later down the road.

“If there's dissent on Medicaid, why don't we come back in six months and say, you know what, let's work with Democrats,” Paul said. “I think there's a bill that all 52 Republicans agree on if they keep narrowing the focus.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, in an interview Sunday on ABC News' "This Week," said it’s “hard” for her to imagine the Senate health care bill passing this week.

As conservatives like Paul on the right say the bill doesn’t do enough to repeal Obamacare, moderates like Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, express concerns that the bill put forward by senior leadership would harm the nation’s most vulnerable.

“I want to wait to see the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] analysis, but I have very serious concerns about the bill,” she told ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, referring to the non-partisan analysis of the legislation’s impact that is expected as early as Monday.

The Maine senator said she “respectfully” disagrees with White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway’s assessment that the Senate bill isn’t a “cut” to Medicaid.

“Based on what I've seen, given the inflation rate that would be applied in the outer years to the Medicaid program, the Senate bill is going to have more impact on the Medicaid program than even the House bill,” she said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sens-...ry?id=48255393

The reputation of the US Senate hangs on this vote in my opinion. Americans are fed up with listening to our Congresscritters regardless of party whining about Obamacare without any commitment to ending it.

You don't solve the Medicaid problem with a health insurance bill, you solve it with a economy that supports our citizens in a sustainable way with good jobs.

You don't solve the health insurance issue with subsidies from the government. That is socialism and doesn't fit with the means or will of the American People.

You don't solve the "uninsured" with mandates, you solve that with a variety of privately constructed options that meet the needs and pocket-books of the market.

Repeal McCarran-Ferguson, get rid of the mandates on individuals and employers, put a cap on Medicaid Expansion, remove maternity benefits under Medicaid, remove illegal aliens and immigrants from Medicaid, and get our American Citizens some good jobs.

Let me tell you what the last 9 years has proven, the more involved the federal government is in this mess, the more expensive it becomes with a poorer result.

The Senate bill is the right answer to back out of this failing program and set things right. When McCarran-Ferson is repealed at least for health insurance, everything will be different. You'll see larger risk pools that reduce the price, you'll see enormous multi-state and even nationwide competition fighting for your insurance dollars. And that applies not only to the individual market, that applies to employer provided programs as well.

When you see the insurance dollars per person go down, you'll see these outrageous medical costs go down with them. Most American suffocate in programs like Obamacare. It steals their oxygen and energy, because they steal their freedom. These programs end up being carrots and sticks to keep people in fixed locations in poverty which is the wrong thing for Americans. That may work in foreign countries with their sheep, but it just does not work in the United States with the Americans.

PASS THE DAMN BILL, REPEAL MCCARRAN AND SET US FREE OF THIS NONSENSE!