They are delaying release of the score to reduce the amount of time it is discussed prior to their attempt to vote. Duh.
That is far from the only reason health care costs are high. The costs of administration, “fee for service”, for-profit health insurance, and the profits extracted from it by health care providers and pharmaceutical companies all are major components as well. Also, even if the “boomers” were all living 110% healthy life styles, their aging demographic bulge in the population would drive costs all by itself since “healthy” old people consume more medical care than “healthy” young people.
So, if I eat properly and exercise, I won’t break a leg on the ski slopes or ever get the flu or suffer from genetic disorders or get cancer or fall down on icy sidewalks or get cancer. Wow!
Snark aside, everyone would still need access to affordable health care. And that includes insurance. Troll somewhere else.
When the ACA was being discussed back in 2008-9 Teddy Kennedy came down with brain cancer and he ultimately died of it in 2009. Now McConnell is pushing a bill to kill O’care (ACA) and McCain has a serious brain issue.
Odd coincidence that.
Wouldn’t he be on Medicare? And besides, his wife is very wealthy so he has no worry about getting the best available care. I do not agree with everything he does, but I hope he is OK. I think this signals its about time for him to retire.
Looks like McCain’s on the ACA exchanges although he should be eligible for Medicare one would think:
“During the mark-up of the ACA bill, however,
lawmakers inserted a provision (Section 1312(d)(3)(D)) that requires
members of Congress and designated congressional staff members to obtain their
health insurance through ACA exchanges rather than continue to receive their
healthcare coverage through the FEHBP.”
…
So I would think that GOPer members would be hurting themselves by voting for this atrocious bill.
edit
As I said yesterday…I don’t support McCain’s politics and I have a bone to pick with him over his choice of Palin for veep but I don’t wish him ill healthwise. I hope he has a speedy recovery.
and here – those greedy fuckers really took care of themselves:
"But there’s a sweetener for Congress members.
The Affordable Care Act stipulates that ordinary people aren’t eligible for coverage through the exchanges if they’re also covered by Medicare. That rule doesn’t apply to Congress members.
According to the federal Office of Personnel Management, Congress members “can continue to have Medicare coverage in addition to your employer-sponsored DC Health Link plan. The DC Health Link plan will be your primary coverage and Medicare will be secondary.”
In other words, more coverage.
Congress members also enjoy a sweet perk while in office – access to the Office of the Attending Physician, a Capitol Hill clinic tasked with maintaining the well-being of lawmakers.
For only about $600 a year, Congress members are able to receive “routine care” such as X-rays, lab work and physical therapy, plus any urgent care required. They also have access to military hospitals.
Then there’s the congressional pension. Unlike nearly everyone in the private sector – except many chief executives – Congress members who have been in office at least five years are eligible for a pension once they turn 62.
The annual pension can start at 80% of the member’s final salary and rise from there with cost-of-living adjustments."
I think everybody should have access to Medicare. And if the salary tax cap for Social Security and Medicare were removed it could be done. We could them avoid all of this BS. Even better would be having Congress subject to the same health care law as everyone else.
Just sayin’
I actually think that’s a possibility: Mitch had said that HHS would be scoring the Cruz amendment instead of CBO for (cough cough) scheduling reasons, but the delay means that CBO can score it after all. And while @ncsteve is clearly right that it doesn’t take expert analytical insight to know what it would do to the private insurance market, those folks do like to do their job properly. So you really may be right – she said hopefully…
Political differences aside, i hope the best for his (extended) recovery. For the sake of this nation, I hope he takes as much time as he needs. Unfortunately for him, i’m afraid you might be right that he isn’t coming back.
Currently, members of Congress must choose their health insurance through the ACA Marketplace (thanks to Chuck Grassley’s poison pill amendment) instead of the normal insurance for Federal employees. However, McCain might have insurance through his wife’s company.
Under Trumpcare - or at least the most recent version they’ve released from the secret room - members of Congress are exempt from the draconian requirements imposed by this awful bill. They gave themselves the option to avoid the pain they’re willing to cause everyone else.
Does diet prevent a freak accident that hurts an innocent bystander? Could be a car that jumps the curb or runs a red light…or a faulty ceiling falling in, or breathing second and smoke? Or inhaling noxious gas from an overturned truck a half mile away? Or being hit by a tree limb that crashes through your living room during a storm? Or an assault in a public park in mid-day? How does lifestyle and diet totally protect someone? To say nothing of cancer or genetic-determined diseases. Ride a bike? Skateboard? Swim? Ski? Run marathons or even go to the gym? There’s always risk that one’s actions cannot totally control.
Hopefully for McCain, it doesn’t end like it did for Kennedy. 