Trump prods Congress to pass stalled healthcare overhaul

[webfact]

Trump prods Congress to pass stalled healthcare overhaul

By Susan Cornwell and Ian Simpson

 

U.S. President Donald Trump looks down while speaking to reporters about healthcare during an energy policy discussion with leaders of American Indian tribes and U.S. governors at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday prodded the Republican-led U.S. Congress to pass major healthcare legislation but huge obstacles remained, with a senior lawmaker saying the Senate was unlikely to take up the stalled bill until next week.

 

The House of Representatives approved its healthcare bill in May but the Senate's version appeared to be in growing trouble as lawmakers returned to Washington from a week-long recess.

 

"I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!" Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the seven-year Republican quest to dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

 

Lawmakers are set to take another recess from the end of July until Sept. 5.

 

Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, was a central campaign pledge for the Republican president. But Senate Republican leaders have faced a revolt within their ranks, with moderate senators uneasy about the millions of Americans forecast to lose their medical insurance under the legislation and hard-line conservatives saying it leaves too much of Obamacare intact.

 

They were struggling to find a compromise that could attract the 50 votes needed for passage in a chamber Republicans control by a 52-48 margin, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a potential tie-breaking vote in the face of unified Democratic opposition.

 

No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn said Republicans could release an updated draft of their bill by the end of the week and told Fox News that senators could vote as early as Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

 

"We're going to continue to talk and listen and exchange ideas on how we can continue to make improvements," Cornyn said on the Senate floor.

 

Also speaking on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave no timetable for the bill. McConnell signalled his determination to keep working and said mere legislative "band-aids" would not suffice.

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he had written to McConnell urging a bipartisan effort to stabilise the health insurance market, noting that McConnell had been quoted recently as saying Congress would need to shore up that market if lawmakers fail to repeal Obamacare.

 

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued data on Monday showing a 38 percent decrease in applications by insurers to sell health plans in the Obamacare individual market in 2018 compared to this year. The agency said insurers continue to flee the exchanges, the online marketplace for health insurance set up under Obamacare.

 

MORE AMERICANS UNINSURED

 

With uncertainty hanging over the healthcare system, the percentage of U.S. adults without health insurance grew in the April-May-June period to 11.7 percent, up from 11.3 percent in the first quarter of 2017, according to Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index figures released on Monday. That translates into nearly 2 million more Americans who have become uninsured.

 

Scores of protesters voiced opposition to the legislation outside the Republican National Committee headquarters and at the offices of some Republican lawmakers including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, chanting slogans including "Trumpcare kills" and "Healthcare is a human right."

 

U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement 80 people were arrested at 13 locations in House and Senate office buildings after they refused "to cease and desist with their unlawful demonstration activities."

 

Republicans criticise Obamacare as a costly government intrusion into the healthcare system. Democrats call the Republican legislation a giveaway to the rich that would hurt millions of the most vulnerable Americans.

 

The Senate legislation would phase out the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid health insurance programme for the poor and disabled, sharply cut federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025, repeal most of Obamacare's taxes, end a penalty on Americans who do not obtain insurance and overhaul Obamacare's subsidies to help people buy insurance with tax credits.

 

Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said investors remained in a "wait-and-see" mode regarding the Senate legislation.

 

 

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Eric Beech and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-11

[MaxYakov]

"I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!" - D Trump

 

I can imagine it and I have a very limited imagination.

[johnnynmonic]

If only it was a good bill. It's really nothing more than Obamacare 2.0.  Same garbage, different politicians taking credit for it.

[darksidedog]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!"

There is a very substantial difference between this and a beautiful HealthCare bill though. The single payer system such as the UK's NHS is miles ahead of the awful system Donald proposes. Allowing insurers to rack up huge profits and giving money to the rich seems less than beautiful to me.

Edited July 11, 2017 by darksidedog

[Emster23]

If Trump wants a beautiful new health care bill, Republicans will have to start over from scratch. Current bill is simply a tax cut for the rich, full stop.

[boomerangutang]

The Dufus in Chief already admitted that Australia's and Canada's systems are good.  

 

Anyhow, reading the OP gave me a mental picture of an old man pushing a dead mule up a hill.

 

Actually, I'm not fully against Trump's health care bill.  It may sound strange, coming from a liberal like me, who has been figuratively kicking Trump in the nuts for the past 20 months.  

 

                   Americans, in general, are a sickly bunch of people.  They need to embrace healthier lifestyles.  Most Americans don't even know all the harm they're doing to themselves.  Get educated! Become aware!

 

                  Americans are acting like alchies who keep drinking fermented sugar crap, and then run to the hospital for liver transplants and other expensive treatments.  Americans are their own worst enemy when it comes to personal health care.  They debilitate themselves with sugar, red meat, trans-fats, over-eating, alcohol, pharma drugs for decades, then they drag their fat selves to a hospital and want every expensive fix on the menu, and they want it for free.

[iReason]

This inept fool needs to be prodded in jail.

[iReason]

Trump largely absent in final health care sprint

 

"President Donald Trump has no plans to play a larger role in selling the Republican health care bill this week,

an administration official told CNN Monday."

 

"Though he often touts himself as the ultimate salesman with a knack for closing deals, he has remained tight-lipped and out of the spotlight, letting others make the last-minute push for health care reform for him."

 

"There are no plans for Trump to travel the country to pitch the bill, the official said."

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/10/politics/trump-health-care-absent/index.html

 

Dead in the water.

What the heck, the republicans only had 8 years to come up with something...

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by iReason

[boomerangutang]

Trump to voters:  "I will pass the most amazing health care bill. You'll all love it, I promise you.  It will do everything great.  It will be so wonderful, you'll beg me to make it less wonderful.  Obama is everything bad.  I'm everything great.  Aren't I great folks?  There, over there in the corner, someone didn't say I was great.  Get him out of here.  Go on, beat the crap out of him and carry him out on a stretcher.  Shall we give him health care folks?  I don't think so.  If he doesn't praise me, he doesn't get nothing from me but a knuckle sandwich and a second hand band-aid.  Aren't I tough, folks?  Of course.  I'm the toughest and greatest president ever.  If you don't know it by now, you'll know it later, I promise you."

 

Trump adviser whispers in Trump's ear: "Uh, excuse me sir.  Did you know your health care bill will force 22 million Americans to lose their coverage altogether?"

 

Trump to advisor: "What, do you expect me to read all those pages?  Listen, if people lose their coverage, that's tough tittie, ok?  Lots of very rich people, myself included will get tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks.  You gotta look at what's important.  By the way, who hired you?  If you work for me, you don't give me any non-praising news, you got that?  You should be glad I don't fire you right here, right now."

[Jingthing]

The big purpose of this bill seems to be to gut Medicaid and bring back preexisting condition limitations via stealth methods. Of course the republicans are trying to sugar coat what they're trying to do with endless lies.