Grassley predicts trouble for latest health care bill

Sept. 21--Despite Republicans' insistence on repealing the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley said Wednesday the future of the health care bill being pushed through the Senate was uncertain.

"I see a problem, yes," said Iowa's senior senator, in response to a question about whether the health care overhaul proposed by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana had enough votes to pass the GOP-controlled Senate. "I think we're one or two votes short and I don't see those other one or two votes coming."

The Graham-Cassidy proposal, introduced Sept. 13 in the Senate, repeals the individual and employer health care mandates put in place by former President Barack Obama's 2010 legislation.

The senators have spent weeks concocting and selling the party's new approach to scrapping Obama's law. They say their proposal, shifting money and decision-making from Washington to the states, nearly has the votes it would need in a showdown expected next week, a deadline that's focused the party on making a final run at the issue.

Graham and Cassidy would end Obama's requirement that most people buy health coverage and larger employers offer it to workers. It would let insurers charge higher premiums to seriously ill customers and cut Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, over time. Money from the law's Medicaid expansion and cost-reductions it provides lower-earning people would be folded into block grants dispersed to states --totaling $1.2 trillion over seven years -- with few federal strings attached.

Supporters of the latest GOP proposal argue it will empower states to spend a limited amount of federal dollars on health care, as they see fit.

"What might fit Massachusetts and New York and Maryland doesn't fit Iowa very well," said Grassley, who voted in favor of the Senate's earlier attempt at health care reform. "The upside of it is, we're going to give states the opportunity to deliver health care more efficiently and effectively, and in a more affordable manner than Obamacare has in the past."

Although President Donald Trump largely has relegated the bill's negotiations to Vice President Mike Pence, he chimed in on Twitter Wednesday morning with his thoughts on the legislation.

"I hope Republican Senators will vote for Graham-Cassidy and fulfill their promise to Repeal & Replace ObamaCare. Money direct to States!"

Opponents of the bill, which needs 50 votes to advance to the House of Representatives, say it will reduce funding for Medicaid and could have a negative, lopsided impact on Americans with chronic health problems and pre-existing conditions.

Republicans commanding the Senate 52-48 must stage the vote before Sept. 30, when special protections expire that have shielded the measure from needing 60 votes to pass. Three GOP defections will sink the measure because of solid Democratic opposition.

"You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered," Grassley told reporters in a conference call Wednesday. "But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill."

He acknowledged the Graham-Cassidy bill would have no impact to help Iowa's fledgling insurance exchange market because its major provisions would not take effect until 2020.

Grassley said the bill proposed by Sen. Lamar Alexandar, R-Tennessee, should be acted on in the short-term because it would help stabilize hurting ACA markets across the country and in Iowa.

So far, conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has said he'll oppose the bill because it doesn't abolish enough of Obama's law. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has cited concerns including the measure's Medicaid cuts and seems a likely no, while noncommittal senators include Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Arizona's John McCain.

All Democrats in the Senate and House are against legislation that would repeal Obama's health care bill.

"While we're still waiting for a final breakdown of how deeply this new Trumpcare bill would hurt hardworking Illinoisans, we already know that, just like the last Trumpcare bill, it will lead to higher costs and less coverage," said U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, representing Illinois' 17th Congressional District.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

___

(c)2017 The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)

Visit The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa) at www.thehawkeye.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.