EDITORIAL: Silent Richard, Luther and Kay

July 11--Time has not been an ally to Senate Republicans wishing to pass a bill that would replace Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act.

If all had gone according to plan, the Senate would have taken a vote before its July 4 holiday recess. But a handful of the 52 Republicans needed to cast a favorable vote got cold feet.

These holdouts fretted about what the Senate bill would do to health care in their home states. Or, we might say, they worried what the voters in their states would do to them in the wake of a "yes" vote on this disastrous bill.

That's not to cast a negative eye on those lawmakers. Looking out for the folks back home is a main reason why the voters choose them as their representatives in Washington.

Which brings us to the deafening silence coming from Alabama's political class. The Senate bill stands to strain Alabama's Medicaid system, which is already operated at the bare minimum.

The experts who've looked closely at the Senate bill say it will put Alabama's rural hospitals in financial jeopardy and reduce coverage to Medicaid enrollees, most of whom are children. The math is pretty simple from there. Many sick children grow up to be sick adults whose ailments are expensive to treat and whose ability to contribute to a prosperous economy is lowered. All of the above spells longterm trouble for our state.

So, Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Luther Strange, R-Birmingham, should be reassuring Alabama residents that they won't support this bill. They aren't.

Alabama's Republican representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives should be setting down a marker that they won't support the bill if it somehow leaves the Senate and heads to their legislative chamber. They aren't, and, in fact, the Obamacare replacement bill they've approved would remove health insurance from 23 million Americans.

Gov. Kay Ivey should be joining the chorus of governors loudly protesting this deeply flawed bill. She isn't.

Now is the time for these representatives to do their jobs and represent Alabama.

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