Via Forbes:
“Here we go, once again. Republicans are pushing a last-ditch effort to dump the Affordable Care Act — aka Obamacare — before the end of September. The speed, ignoring any reasonable interest in hearings or scoring from the Congressional Budget Office, owes to procedural issues. Up until then, it would only take a majority in the Senate to pass a bill that guts the program, under the guise of funding. After that, they would need a supermajority of 60 votes to avoid a filibuster, unless, of course, they ended the procedure.
The Hail Mary, or maybe hail something a little less saintly in nature, is the Graham-Cassidy bill. The news from organizations that regularly analyze and cover health care developments isn’t good. The Kaiser Family Foundation says the bill endangers Medicaid coverage for the poor in a number of ways. Those with pre-existing conditions could see higher costs, at least if they get coverage through the ACA programs and not from an employer. Even Bill Cassidy, one of the sponsors, admits that states would have greater ability to waive ACA regulations, meaning that people in many states could be hurt because legislators would have more ability to reduce or eliminate protections. (It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.)”
