Let’s be clear about one thing, except for perhaps a handful of Republicans (and perhaps not even that many) Republicans don’t care one iota about stabilizing the Affordable Care Act (which only needs stabilizing because of their very own sabotage). As a party, their operating theory has been to destroy the law for eight years and to believe that they now want to make it work better is pure fancy.
This whole thing has been a GOP led sham. Remember, the whole notion of a stabilization bill was dead late last year until they needed Susan Collins’ vote for the tax scam bill which ripped away health care from millions to fund tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations. Collins is a Republican and was always going to vote for the tax bill – but she needed cover to vote for a bill that ripped away coverage and spiked premiums for millions of Americans. She got it in the form of a promise to pass legislation to stabilize the markets – a promise we said from the beginning Republican’s would never keep. We used to say that Collins got played by a desperate leadership which needed her vote for the only piece of major legislation they had a prayer of passing in 2017, but she’s been in Washington 30 years, she knew this was never going to happen – or, at a minimum, should have known.
Fast forward to today. Republicans have seen the studies – they know their sabotage is going to massively spike premiums and threaten coverage – but they hate the ACA – always have – and broadly speaking have no interest in helping it survive. They also know they need to provide cover to Collins because given the margins in the Senate they still need her vote on close bills. So they put forward a bill that they know Democrats won’t support – which all but codifies junk plans, sets the stage for high risk pools and imposes unacceptable restrictions on abortion – a classic poison pill if there ever was one. And they’ll force a vote on this bill separate from the omnibus because they know it will fail – which is what they want – and then they will blame Democrats for what ensues in the market and try to claim they would have fixed it. That’s complete and utter horse manure and no reporter, editorial writer or voter should buy the GOP’s crocodile tears over the failure of their so-called stabilization bill.
My mother taught me growing up that when in doubt consider the source. Republicans are going to claim that THEY are the ones who want to stabilize OBAMACARE and that Democrats stood in the way? Give me a break.
Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director
Protect Our Care