Discussion: Who To Watch This Week In The Senate's Obamacare Repeal Fight

I called Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) and John Kennedy’s (R-LA) offices today. The phone lines to their DC offices are open, so if you’re from Louisiana, please call. Kennedy is a spineless, hopeless case and a certain yes vote, but call anyway. In the end, I think Cassidy will vote yes, too, although people in Louisiana will be badly hurt by the Mean and Heartless Healthcare bill. Medicaid will be decimated, because the state has chronic budget problems now, and if the feds dump further costs of Medicaid on the state, the result will be disastrous.

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What a bunch of bullshitters. Lee, Cruz, Cornyn and Portman are all in the ‘gang of 13’ who crafted this piece of shit legislation behind closed doors with McConnell. They aren’t against the bill or “uncommitted” - they helped write the damned thing. I could maybe see Portman getting aced out and having some misgivings since he’s not a total nut like the other three but I don’t believe for a second that Lee, Cruz, and Cornyn aren’t definite yes votes.

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Hey, I’ve got all the patience in the world. It will come…

These idiots are only going to grandstand and try to get something out of Uncle Mitch, in the same way Ben Nelson held the ACA hostage (and one could argue, prevented single payor from being the law of the land).
Don’t hold your breath that this abomination won’t pass…the train’s a comin’.

Yes, in fact young Mitch’s treatment, including the funds for that treatment, was provided by the organization that soon took the name March of Dimes. March of Dimes is one of the patient-advocacy organizations McConnell has refused to meet with to discuss the bill. He’s a soulless monster.

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The only question is which two senators get the hall pass.

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I once met a guy from the fish hatchery who resupplied various lakes and streams with trout. He was full of wisdom, especially about why a PhD biologist would prefer such a mundane low-pay job? He said he deserved it. He’d earned it. It let him stay in regular contact with various habits and the fish-stocking was basically an excuse to be outside, unsupervised and free with this thoughts. I wasn’t impressed, because it didn’t seem that profound.

A few months later we were talking about women and marriage. He gushed about his wife and their mountain home. He said you don’t get the partner you love necessarily, but you usually get the one you deserve. He chalked up his great life to good karma. One has to wonder, what did Wisconsin ever do to deserve Ron Johnson? What did Fresno do to deserve Devin Nunes? What did Massachucetts do to deserve Elizabeth Warren?

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There are currently nine articles on TPM about the ACA repeal effort. I’m not going to click on another one because we know what the result will be. They will succeed in repealing the ACA.

Everything bad that 45 does to his voters is the fault of Obama, Democrats, liberals, gays, women, muslinterrists, Black Lives Matter and college educations.

Obviously.

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I like it.

Don’t seek treatment for it till we find out if it might work for the good. Ya never know.

“You’re going to have such great healthcare at a tiny fraction of the cost, and it is going to be so easy,” Trump said. - October 2016

REVISED JUNE 2017 - [The Wealthy] are going to have such great tax cuts and will pay just a tiny fraction of what they should. It is going to be so easy,’ Trump said.

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Simple. McConnell was thinking I need my donors more than anyone else. Especially the 400 million that the Koch brothers are expected to spend in the mid-terms.

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It doesn’t look like there will be 51% of Senators ready to vote for a healthcare bill that will properly address the bottom one half of the income demographic in America. Some Republicans would, but not 51%. So Obamacare will wither, because they won’t fix that either, and we’ll be left with pretty much nothing in time for the voters to ring in at the 2018 election. If we, as a country, have any sense left, we can vote for some Senators and Congressfolks who are more inclined to serve their constituents.

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Well, it’s apparently worked in her favor for ten years, two terms, and will probably work for her for many more to come. What’s the benefit for her to change when she is clearly representing the interests of her great State of Maine? [/s]

With “Maverick” McCain still in the Senate you might not be completely correct.

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Simple answer - pulled the lever or marked the box next to their names. We get the officials we vote for. Nothing more complicated than that.

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No one expects a humanitarian or even rational solution to America’s health care crisis from Republicans.

A humanitarian solution would be to “improve” ObamaCare. A rational solution would be to SOLVE THE FUCKIN’ PROBLEM THAT OBAMACARE MISSED.

America doesn’t have a health care crisis, we have a health care PAYMENT crisis. And that crisis is entirely due to health care insurance co.'s continued effort to be relevant, viable - and profitable.

Here’s the deal:

Insurance co.'s don’t provide health care. America has 5 or less health insurers. This is what is known as an oligarchy, or, in short terms, a near-monopoly.

NO ONE in the medical profession makes more for any old-school procedure than they did in 1999. When insurance co.'s report to you with their OBE’s, they’re telling you what was billed, not what they paid. It’s deceptive, to say the least.

Doubt that? Just try asking. Your insurance co. will NOT tell you what they paid. Even more, their contracted payees (your actual health care providers), BY CONTRACT, are prohibited from telling you what they were actually paid. In many cases they don’t even have a way to tell you, the data systems don’t even exist. No matter how thoroughly your clerk examines the system, they cannot find out. That’s kept separate.

Here’s the deal: health insurance co.'s are MAJOR contributors to Republicans, less so to Democrats, but still major contributors.

Neither party, both committed as they are to “contributions,” is in a position to solve the HEALTH CARE PAYMENT crisis.

Vote Bernie, the only clear-headed candidate, the only one available, the only one who won’t take corporate donations. Let’s hope his wife’s legal issues get resolved soon. Meanwhile:

Vote Bernie.

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It isn’t true that we get the people we vote for. Not true for the MAJORITY of voters in the last presidential election. Unfortunately.

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That implies an extremely low level of information on the part of voters. Perhaps Americans are that ignorant, but certainly most people I’ve met would not qualify (well there was the middle-aged white lady I met at the police station who beamed about watching (and recording) Trump’s inauguration and how he was going to “get rid of the ni##ers.”

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