Senate GOP Prepares to Offer Same Bill with Different Name

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by: Colorado Pols

This isn’t the same healthcare bill! We used a different font this time!

Senate Republicans plan to introduce a ~~new~~ differently-named healthcare bill on Thursday. As NBC News reports, get ready for BCRA 2.0: “Same Shit, Different Words”:

Senate Republicans are preparing to unveil a revised health care bill that aims to attract support from wary Republicans, but early indications suggest the proposed changes do little to address concerns about the current deep cuts to Medicaid, possibly putting the bill’s path to passage in peril.

Numerous changes have been made to the new version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act to appease both conservative and moderate Republicans as leadership searches for the 50 votes they need to pass it. In a blow to the more moderate faction, it appears the more than $700 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid will still be part of the measure, according to numerous senators describing what leadership has told them about the bill.

“My understanding is that remains the same,” Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., a proponent of the Medicaid cuts, of the Medicaid portion of the bill. [Pols emphasis]

Things could still change as the bill’s contents are yet final and the new text is expected to be released Thursday. Still, the prospects of creating a more generous Medicaid program appear to be dim.

Just so we’re clear on the Medicaid piece, here’s a quote from The Hill:

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso (Wyo.) said, “What we had in the original bill has not changed with regard to Medicaid.”

They’re not cutting Medicaid…they’re just making it sustainable. If it doesn’t exist at all, then it shouldn’t be hard to fund, right? It’s all about the “glide path.”

6 thoughts on “Senate GOP Prepares to Offer Same Bill with Different Name”

DawnPatrol says:

July 12, 2017 at 6:36 pm

"Glide path." Wasn't that what Thelma and Louise were on last time we saw them, just before they plummeted to their fiery obliteration? At least they did so by choice — without some old, shriveled up, faux-christian cabal of vile right-wing bastards forcing them to drive off the cliff.

These evil goddam republicreeps are absolute abominations. Despicable, cowardly, craven and immoral.

"Glide path." Such a pleasant, inoffensive, innocuous-sounding "alternative" description — OF MURDER.

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1. Old Time Dem says:
  
  July 13, 2017 at 10:32 am
  
  It's not so much "gliding" as "plummeting."
  
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DawnPatrol says:

July 12, 2017 at 6:42 pm

And as for this latest immoral POS "bill" these criminals are offering, to paraphrase:

This too shall not pass!

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JohnInDenver says:

July 12, 2017 at 8:08 pm

Well, at least Cory Gardner heard about the importance of Medicaid in one of his meetings:

"We talked about the health care act," [Routt County Commissioner Doug] Monger said. "I told him about Routt County's concerns, especially about expanded Medicaid and how much of a benefit it's been for Routt County.

"I also told him 'you guys have to get something out there about what you guys are doing, let us know what's really going on," Monger said, referencing the fact that Gardner was one of 13 U.S. senators who crafted the Senate health care bill.

So who knows. Maybe Cory will get around to telling Coloradans what is going on. Since he was one of the 13 who "crafted" the bill … or discussion draft … or possible proposal.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  July 12, 2017 at 10:07 pm
  
  Or, maybe he'll put lipstick on a pig and call her Polly . . .
  
  . . . (but I kinda' doubt that will make it a parrot, despite any assurances Gardner might sling?!?)
  
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  1. notaskinnycook says:
    
    July 12, 2017 at 10:56 pm
    
    Miss Anne Richards called the lipsticked pig Monique. That could make all the difference.
    
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