A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep

As January wraps up, it appears that Congress is still nowhere close to a deal on several major issues with significant implications for health policy. Four months into fiscal year 2018, Congress still can’t agree on FY 2018 funding levels or a budget deal to prevent sequestration — the deep, automatic, across-the-board cuts set to hit everything from the military to family planning and HIV/AIDS services to road and bridge safety. Hardline conservatives are happy to let sequestration hit non-defense priorities like health care, education, and infrastructure but are pushing for new spending for the Pentagon. Democrats have said that’s a non-starter. Meanwhile, there’s little evidence that Congress is any closer to a DACA deal for Dreamers, and there are significant concerns that, even if the Senate can pass something, Republican leadership in the House won’t bring it to a vote unless moderate Republicans face more public pressure. If there’s a silver lining to this madness ...

This week we’re on red alert in response to reports that Republican leadership is gearing up for a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid the week of September 25 , with a sham hearing possible before then. Now is the time to call, write, and rally to urge the Senate to reject this new threat and support a bipartisan package instead. The bill, known as Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson for its sponsors Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), is being sold as a “compromise” and “non-partisan” solution—even though no Democrats support it. But not only is Graham-Cassidy not a compromise, it is the most radical proposal yet. And like the proposals that preceded it, the bill goes far beyond Republicans’ campaign pledge to repeal the ACA; it also attacks long-standing traditional Medicaid. Republicans only have two weeks to ram through repeal with just 50 senators and Vice President Mike Pence because on Sept...

Wondering what’s next after the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was dramatically stopped in its tracks last week ? This week has brought a new round of legislative threats and another promise from a petulant president to actively sabotage the law at the expense of millions of Americans who rely on it for their care. Radical bill from "moderate" senators This week, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Dean Heller (R-NV) announced that they are working on yet another extreme GOP-only bill with the House Freedom Caucus to gut the ACA. The bill would repeal the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and its financial assistance to help low- and moderate-income households purchase private insurance. In their place, the bill would give states a block grant worth less than what the federal government would contribute under current law. Furthermore, the states that expanded Medicaid would be cut deeply while the 19 states that have refused to e...