# Is there any possibility that we'll get a bipartisan Health Care Bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593 "2017-07-18T19:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/1 "2017-07-18T19:58:19Z")
The Senate Republicans have admitted they don’t have the votes to pass health care reform. Primarily because a few on the extreme didn’t feel it went far enough. Currently the Republicans are considering the repeal bill the Senate passed in 2015. I think most of us know that was symbolic political theater. The Republicans knew Obama would veto it. Imho it would be political suicide for the Republicans to repeal The Affordable Care Act. They would enrage so many people. Most Republicans would be unelectable for state or Federal office. The extremists may be that stupid but the grownups won’t repeal The Affordable Care Act without a solution. I can’t imagine McConnell allowing this old bill to reach the floor. Too many Republicans would be forced to change their vote. They all voted for it in 2015. That leaves the best option. A bipartisan solution has to be negotiated. Tell the extremists in both parties to STFU and let the moderates fix this mess? I’m convinced a solution can be found if they set aside politics. What other choice does the country have? The Affordable Care Act is floundering and costing a fortune. It’s not sustainable in it’s current incarnation. There is a tipping point when even politicians have to put the needs of the country first. Do you expect to see a bipartisan solution passed before the 2018 elections? > **[Sens. Cotton, Boozman on board with ‘repeal now, replace later’ approach](https://katv.com/news/local/sen-cotton-on-board-with-repeal-and-replace-later-approach)** > > Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he is supportive of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest tactic to bring up a 2015 measure that repealed the Affordable Care Act and set a timeline for replacing it within two years, although he opposed that... > [@](#): > > With two more GOP defections on Monday night (July 18), a stalled plan to repeal and replace the ACA lost its momentum. McConnell, R-Ky., said he would move forward with the 2015 plan that passed two years ago. A Republican talking sense! 😃 > [@](#): > > Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a national interview with CNN that he thinks it’s time for a bipartisan approach to reforming healthcare… ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/2 "2017-07-18T20:16:31Z")
We’ve been there, done that, and ACA _is the best bipartisan solution_ they could all agree on. Except one side of that partisan divide decided to fight against it, cripple it and attempt to repeal it every step of the way instead of working on ways to improve it or proposing better alternatives to replace it with. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/3 "2017-07-18T21:15:09Z")
I completely agree a bipartisan solution involves saving the best elements of the Affordable Care Act and fixing what doesn’t work. The health care experts seem to know what isn’t working. Why in the hell won’t the politicians join together to fix? The quality of people’s lives is at stake. This is bigger than anybody’s fucking political agenda. There’s no way any one person has the answer. It’s going to take a bipartisan approach. Using a lot of people’s best ideas. Former VP Biden did a wonderfully candid CNN, Jack Tapper interview just as he left office. People need to watch it. > **[Joe Biden to House Republicans: Repeal Obamacare, See What Happens (Bad Things)](https://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-obamacare-repeal)** > > They'll still do it. But it won't go well for them. ON Health Care Biden explained… > [@](#): > > In his interview with Tapper, Vice President Biden patiently explains that the Affordable Care Act, like the Social Security Act before it, was designed to begin an iterative policymaking process that future administrations could build upon, not a one-shot solution that should be torn down if at all flawed in the initial execution. Congress knew ACA would require tweaking to fix what didn’t work. It’s a normal part of any complex legislation. So they need to quit playing politics and fix this thing! ---
**Author:** ![Majestic\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Majestic\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Majestic_Lee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/4 "2017-07-18T22:07:37Z")
As an outsider looking in - absolutely no chance! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/5 "2017-07-18T22:11:14Z")
Well, since there basically are no moderate Republicans anymore - having been primaried, called RINOs and otherwise driven out, I’m not sure who you’re talking about on that side of the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/6 "2017-07-18T22:14:01Z")
> [@Majestic\_Lee](#): > > As an outsider looking in - absolutely no chance! As an insider…well, you’re exactly right. The GOP doesn’t currently seem to understand what the function of a health care system/bill is, and I don’t think they have any interest in providing one. All of this wrangling was just to get some tax cuts; the “health care” part of it was just the disguise for this week. (See also: virtually every GOP-proposed legislation of the last eight years, ignoring the bigoted ones and the ones meant to destabilize voting). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/7 "2017-07-18T22:29:06Z")
I’m growing increasingly worried that ACA may implode. That could take down Medicare and Medicaid. I’m not sure the private health insurance companies would survive. Health Insurance is a set of dominos just waiting to topple. This could be catastrophic for the country if Congress doesn’t fix ACA. A band-aid approach won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/8 "2017-07-18T22:33:01Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > We’ve been there, done that, and ACA _is the best bipartisan solution_ they could all agree on. Except one side of that partisan divide decided to fight against it, cripple it and attempt to repeal it every step of the way instead of working on ways to improve it or proposing better alternatives to replace it with. It isn’t even really a matter of fixing the ACA. Just stop sabotaging it and let it work the way it’s supposed to. Enforce the mandates. Encourage people to sign up instead of running ad campaigns aimed at getting people to NOT sign up. Stop lying about death panels. Stop comparing it to slavery. Have all states set up exchanges and take the Medicaid expansion ( the Medicaid expansion gets a lot of the sickest and most expensive patients out of the private market and brings down prices.) Let the risk corridors operate as they should, this also brings down premiums. But this isn’t going to happen because there is a base philosophical difference. Republicans don’t want the government to be involved in healthcare. Period. And any more ACA fixes to bring down premiums, such as further expansion of Medicaid and Medicare will add to the cost. And the Democrats need to start selling healthcare as an investment (in human infrastructure, as it were) instead of letting the Republicans define it as an entitlement. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/9 "2017-07-18T22:51:23Z")
Any bi-partisan approach would hit hard up against the Republican attitude towards taxes (against 'em for anything except military). Nevertheless, I have hope. Republicans are in a really tight spot. On the one hand, they can’t vote to gut Medicaid or re-instate exceptions for pre-existing conditions without alienating a huge fraction of their constituents. On the other hand, they can’t fail to reduce taxes, let alone increase them, without alienating a huge fraction of their constituents. The number of their constituents who are in both of those fractions continues to astound me. But the upshot could be the switch of enough seats from R to D so that necessary practical revisions can be made. Unfortunately, going down this path is just a license for insurance companies and for-profit medical institutions to print money, even more than they already do. The only real solution is a well-crafted single-payer system. We live in hope. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/10 "2017-07-19T00:33:26Z")
Come on gang. What could be more important to the American electorate than relieving the Koch’s of several tens of millions of dollars in taxes every year? If a couple tens of millions lose their health insurance, that is just collateral damage. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/11 "2017-07-19T00:53:28Z")
A good article in the **[Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/17/republican-health-bill-senators-oppose-vote)**. _Republicans hold a bare 52-48 majority in the upper chamber and two members of the GOP caucus, the moderate Susan Collins of Maine and the libertarian Rand Paul of Kentucky, already opposed the bill, along with all 48 Democrats. The announcement from Moran and Lee made it impossible for Republicans to muster the 50 votes needed to bring the BCRA to the floor._ _In a tweet, Lee noted that he could not support “this version” of the bill. Moran used the same language on Twitter. Both voted for a clean repeal of the Affordable Care Act in 2015, albeit with the expectation that it would be vetoed by Obama and not become law._ Whilst tweeting like good’uns have they considered that anti-dementia drugs are needed for people voting in deliberate _anticipation_ their votes will be futile ? - In Lee’s argument, the mandate that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions resulted in “a hidden tax” which meant that “middle-class families are being forced to pay billions in higher health insurance premiums to help those with pre-existing conditions”. - Those poor poor families… I can never scrape up that last billion each year. But the best bit is a tweet from your leader, just when you think he can’t get any weirder, he comes up with endearing goofiness. 2017 July 18 _Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!_ Sure they will, Donnie, sure they will… ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/12 "2017-07-19T00:54:19Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > It isn’t even really a matter of fixing the ACA. Just stop sabotaging it and let it work the way it’s supposed to. Enforce the mandates. Encourage people to sign up instead of running ad campaigns aimed at getting people to NOT sign up. Stop lying about death panels. Stop comparing it to slavery. > > Have all states set up exchanges and take the Medicaid expansion ( the Medicaid expansion gets a lot of the sickest and most expensive patients out of the private market and brings down prices.) Let the risk corridors operate as they should, this also brings down premiums. > > But this isn’t going to happen because there is a base philosophical difference. Republicans don’t want the government to be involved in healthcare. Period. And any more ACA fixes to bring down premiums, such as further expansion of Medicaid and Medicare will add to the cost. And the Democrats need to start selling healthcare as an investment (in human infrastructure, as it were) instead of letting the Republicans define it as an entitlement. Thank you. I agree with your perfect post on the situation. The ACA that Obama was able to accomplish was the best that could be achieved at the time, but he never said it was the perfect scheme. In fact, he said it was better to get half a loaf than none at all, so he compromised on one of the most important aspects of his plan: The public option, which would have imposed the only meaningful competition to the health insurance companies. At the time the ACA passed, I don’t think anyone could envision how much sabotage and opposition Republicans would throw at it, including half the states declining the Medicaid expansion to the detriment of their own citizens, and actively working to keep people from signing up, as **Ann Hedonia** points out above. To carry on with the baked goods analogy, Obama baked a pretty good cake. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t finished. It needed some nice filling and icing. Still, it was a good, solid cake. Many Republicans pissed all over it and then spent 7 years screaming about what an awful cake it was. Now they’re lowering their trou and facing their butt cheeks toward it: “Let it fail.” Yes, there are probably enough Democrats and moderate Republicans who could agree on fixing the ACA. But who will drive this movement? McConnell and Ryan aren’t being deliberately obstructive for no reason. But they are bought and paid for by their American oligarchs – Ryan just accepted another $250,000 donation from the Mercers a few days ago – and are afraid to abandon efforts to deliver their part of the quid pro quo: Tax cuts. Glorious tax cuts for all their wealthy donors. Tax cuts are the _sole_ concern of these folks. The welfare of US citizens is utterly beside the point for them. I don’t think the ACA can be fixed/tweaked until Democrats control at least one part of Congress again. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/13 "2017-07-19T01:02:59Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > - In Lee’s argument, the mandate that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions resulted in “a hidden tax” which meant that “middle-class families are being forced to pay billions in higher health insurance premiums to help those with pre-existing conditions”. > - As if “middle-class families” and “those with pre-existing conditions” were mutually exclusive. GAH. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/14 "2017-07-19T01:06:30Z")
It could happen except for on glaring lack: LEADERSHIP. Honest to God, smart, savvy, wise, bonafide _leadership_. I don’t see it on either side. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/15 "2017-07-19T01:08:36Z")
That would be ONE glaring lack. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/16 "2017-07-19T06:02:24Z")
The reason that the Republicans are hamstrung is because they know their constituency actually all want Obamacare. But they would rather all get sick and die than _call_ it Obamacare. The answer is to repeal the ACA in name, but simultaneously reinstate the exact same legislation as the “American Freedom Healthcare Act”. Now that it’s their own legislation, the Republicans can work on improving it by removing all the ways they insisted on fucking up the original ACA. That’s modern bipartisan politics. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/17 "2017-07-19T08:51:35Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > The reason that the Republicans are hamstrung is because they know their constituency actually all want Obamacare. But they would rather all get sick and die than _call_ it Obamacare. The answer is to repeal the ACA in name, but simultaneously reinstate the exact same legislation as the “American Freedom Healthcare Act”. Now that it’s their own legislation, the Republicans can work on improving it by removing all the ways they insisted on fucking up the original ACA. Again, though, that would improve health care, not deliver a tax cut. So even that masterful plan is out the door. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/18 "2017-07-19T09:37:19Z")
I’m not sure what the Beltway types calling for bipartisan fixes have in mind. The ACA is a liberal Republican plan. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/19 "2017-07-19T14:01:45Z")
I would say no. I don’t see any of the Democrats voting for anything the GOP brings forward and with the Republicans being far less unified than we are, we’re always going to get a couple defectors. So I would say Obama-care/ACA is safe for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593/20 "2017-07-19T15:10:41Z")
No. Neither party is willing to work with the other. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-possibility-that-well-get-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill/791593.md?page=2)