One week after all hope seemed lost for Senate Republicans and the Better Care Reconciliation Act seemed all but dead thanks to opposition from 4 Senate Republicans, including Susan Collins and Rand Paul, publicly opposing the bill and dozens of others, including former Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, expressing deep concerns over the bill’s lack of structure, coverage, and cuts to existing Medicaid spending, the Senate passed a 51-50 vote to continue negotiating a new healthcare bill to replace Obamacare with the BCRA as a base.
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In our last healthcare article, linked here, we talked about the awful ramifications of the new healthcare bill to the average American, including a very likely loss of coverage to over 22 million Americans, an endangerment to essential health benefits nationwide and a complete de-funding of Planned Parenthood. Mike Pence had the tie breaking vote that signified a new focus for Senate to continue tooling and discussing the new healthcare bill as it’s currently structured, a motion that will carry into the coming months of Congressional session and attention from both Democrats and Republicans. John McCain was a huge turning point for the vote, who flew in fresh off of brain surgery to vote along party lines and vote in favor of the talks while slamming the BCRA for, among other things, its lack of bipartisan accommodations. In a quote during his first statements since returning to the Senate floor, he proclaimed:
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“Let’s trust each other. Let’s return to regular order. We’ve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle.”
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All we can do now is hope that some positive change and considerations are made to the bill that will truly keep the Democrats and their constituency in mind.
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