Senate Parliamentarian Rules That Republicans MUST Work With Democrats to Repeal-Replace ObamaCare.

July 21, 2017

He didn't say those words, but the Parliamentarian just set the conditions for Repeal-Replace, such that 60 votes are needed. The Republicans only have 52 votes available.

So essentially, if ObamaCare/ACA is to be Repealed-Replaced, with minimum disruption, Republicans and Democrats are going to need to sit down and hammer something out before mid-September. (Mid Sept is when the 2018 ObamaCare exchanges are "locked and loaded" for 2018 Obamacare enrollment to commence on November 1, 2017.)

Here's a list of the ACA items that CAN NOT be TOUCHED, in the ObamaCare Repeal-Replace (BCRA) bill, that's to be voted on next week...

Defunding Planned Parenthood
Abortion Restrictions for Tax Credits
Sunset of Essential Health Benefits Requirement for Medicaid
Funding for Cost-Sharing Subsidies
Stabilizing the Individual Insurance Markets
Medical Loss Ratio
Availability of Rollover Funds
Decrease in Target Expenditures for Required Expenditures by Certain Political Subdivisions
Grandfathering Certain Medicaid Waivers
Prioritization of HCBS Waivers
Reporting of CMS-64 Data

Source Article: www.cbsnews.com...

Not being able to touch these ACA items in a Repeal-Replace bill, will throw the entire insurance-medical system into chaos. If Republicans want to pass a GOOD Repeal-Replace, they're going to need Chuck Schumer's help. How ironic is that!? (Schumer says that if there is a "repeal", he won't even talk.)

I'm sure a lot of Congressmen/Senators are CRYING tonight, and a lot of them are (silently) HAPPY tonight!

-CareWeMust

a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage. So I fail to see why they should need Democrats to unwind this monstrosity.

And basically part of it is that I now have to buy insurance for prostate exams even though I don't have one just like you have to be insured for maternity care.

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

Well did they or not ?

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage. So I fail to see why they should need Democrats to unwind this monstrosity.

And basically part of it is that I now have to buy insurance for prostate exams even though I don't have one just like you have to be insured for maternity care.

Because they don't have the votes to repeal or replace, there are still a few Republicans left with a little honor and compassion left.

www.politico.com...

www.cnn.com...

rock....hard place

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage. So I fail to see why they should need Democrats to unwind this monstrosity.

And basically part of it is that I now have to buy insurance for prostate exams even though I don't have one just like you have to be insured for maternity care.

The "people", advising Obama and the Dem Congress in 2008/2009 were very special. Experts and deceit and deviousness!

When ObamaCare was passed, using reconciliation, the bill was a stripped-down 2,300 page document. Smaller than today's 25,000+ pages, but still mind-boggling. The plan (and it worked!) was for Health and Human Services to add layers upon layers of "Rules" to the legislation, to shape it into what we see today. Actually ObamaCare is STILL being phased-in, if you can believe that!

Yes...everyone is required to purchase baked-in maternity coverage even if they can't make a baby. And everyone is required to purchase baked-in mental coverage, even if they don't have a brain.

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

Yes..but let's hope that they will either have a change of heart, or, find some loophole to make their God (the parliamentarian) happy.

a reply to: carewemust

It's just an advisory role. The Vice President/Senate President can overrule her and opt not to take her counsel. Not real clear on what recourse the Dems even have should the GOP wake the hell up and just cast 50 votes to straight across the board repeal this abomination ACA bill. Pence, as the Senate President, could then vote in favor of repeal, which is allowed under reconciliation.

As an aside, if the GOP does take this counsel, then they no longer "own" Obamacare. They tried, the system failed the people, and the Dems obstructed, the end. Defund and move on.

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage. So I fail to see why they should need Democrats to unwind this monstrosity.

And basically part of it is that I now have to buy insurance for prostate exams even though I don't have one just like you have to be insured for maternity care.

Because they don't have the votes to repeal or replace, there are still a few Republicans left with a little honor and compassion left.

www.politico.com...

www.cnn.com...

rock....hard place

Defending the pile of crap that is Obamacare has nothing to do with compassion or honor. Not repealing it is a breach of their fiduciary relationship with the American People.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: carewemust

It's just an advisory role. The Vice President/Senate President can overrule her and opt not to take her counsel. Not real clear on what recourse the Dems even have should the GOP wake the hell up and just cast 50 votes to straight across the board repeal this abomination ACA bill. Pence, as the Senate President, could then vote in favor of repeal, which is allowed under reconciliation.

I also read that, if needed, another Senator can cast Senator McCain's vote "by proxy".

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: carewemust

It's just an advisory role. The Vice President/Senate President can overrule her and opt not to take her counsel. Not real clear on what recourse the Dems even have should the GOP wake the hell up and just cast 50 votes to straight across the board repeal this abomination ACA bill. Pence, as the Senate President, could then vote in favor of repeal, which is allowed under reconciliation.

She's more than an advisor, Burdman.

""Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is the most powerful person in Washington few have heard of.
As the Senate’s chief procedural referee, she will decide how much of President Trump’s agenda can pass without any Democratic votes.

MacDonough took over as Senate parliamentarian, becoming the first woman to do so, in February 2012, when Democrats controlled the Senate under Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). She was promoted by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson but never talked to Reid about the job.""

Source: thehill.com...

She's very powerful, and part of the Obama Administration's Democratic SWAMP.

a reply to: carewemust

I bet you they're all happy. They almost certainly did this so they can reuse the excuse that Democrats are blocking changes to health care, and that in 2018 we need to vote them even more power to fix it. 8 years with no plan isn't good enough, this move is so they can push it to 10 and maintain the issue.

Obamacare was passed in 2010 as a tax with a simple majority, not with 60 votes. There is no reason it cannot be repealed with a simple majority.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: carewemust

I bet you they're all happy. They almost certainly did this so they can reuse the excuse that Democrats are blocking changes to health care, and that in 2018 we need to vote them even more power to fix it. 8 years with no plan isn't good enough, this move is so they can push it to 10 and maintain the issue.

If Republicans don't repeal ObamaCare, or at least add Free-Market choice to the insurance landscape, they don't deserve to be re-elected. It would be better to be a tax-and-spend Democrat, than a Republican with ZERO integrity, IMO.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
Obamacare was passed in 2010 as a tax with a simple majority, not with 60 votes. There is no reason it cannot be repealed with a simple majority.

See my post above. Can't be repealed the way it was passed, because over 20,000 pages of rules and regulations were added by Health and Human Services AFTER it was passed.

Theoretically, those rules and regulations could be removed after a partial repeal, but the effect of partial repeal, followed by pulling threads out of the law, one by one, could really screw up medical care in this country.

Here's a good summary article that explains just how much harder it is going to be to get Obamacare repeal-replace done properly, with less than 60 Senate votes.

a reply to: ketsuko

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage.

That is demonstrably 100% absolute bull feces. It does not resemble the historical truth in any way, shape, or form. It is, in short, a LIE. Your assertion is a foul, clumsy, attempt at misinformation.

The ACA was subjected to months of hearings and bipartisan negotiation. The final product included dozens of Republican amendments which are demonstrably the source of 99% of the ACA's shortcomings. If no Republican voted in favor of the ACA it is not because they didn't know what was in it or didn't have the opportunity to provide input. The Democrats went out of their way to get Republican input, unlike the Republican's this time around.

The ACA is not perfect, but most of its shortcomings must be laid squarely at the feet of obstructionist Republicans, both at the federal level when the bill was negotiated (bipartisan) and at the state level where the agenda was absolutely to engineer it to fail to the detriment of their citizens.

Compare the enormous success of the ACA in California and the non-success in Arizona. That difference is 100% down to the different attitude to providing affordable health care to the citizens of their states between a Dem controlled state and a Rep controlled state. That difference is repeated all over the country. In general, ACA works great in Dem controlled states, and doesn't in GOP controlled states simply because the GOP WANTS IT TO FAIL, not because it is a bad law.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: carewemust

Didn't the GOP tell the dembs that they don't need or want them to be involved in "repeal and replace"??

And it was the Dems who f***** up everything by passing it without any Republicans involved at any stage.

Re-writing history?

The ACA wasn't passed without plenty of input from republicans - arguably why it's not better than it is; it was later passed with republicans voting no as a show of "principal".

Stop with the partisan bull#, both parties are screwing this country.

a reply to: carewemust

See my post above. Can't be repealed the way it was passed, because over 20,000 pages of rules and regulations were added by Health and Human Services AFTER it was passed.

Not true. Over 80% of those rules and regulations existed BEFORE the ACA, and the new rules were actually asked for by the insurance companies to ensure standardization across the risk pools.

See acasignups.net...