The Senate health care bill: Yuval Levin’s take

[Valin]

Power Line

Paul Mirengoff

June 25, 2017

 

Yuval Levin takes a close look at the Senate health care bill. He agrees with those of us who don’t consider it a repeal of Obamacare, Rather, like the House bill, the Senate version “addresses discrete problems with Obamacare within the framework it created, while pursuing some significant structural reforms to Medicaid.”

Levin believes, as I do, that “the cause of good policy (almost regardless of your priorities in health care) would be better served by a repeal and replacement, with appropriate transition measures, than by [the] sort of tinkering” proposed by both the Senate and the House. Repeal and replace would provide “more coverage, a better health-financing system, and a more appropriate role for government.”

However, Levin assesses the Senate bill on its own terms. He finds it “mostly better” than the House bill. “Better than the House bill isn’t extravagant praise,” he concedes, “but it is certainly one bar such a bill ought to clear.”

Levin examines (1) the tax credits in the Senate bill, (2) its reform of Medicaid, (3) its effort to give states regulatory flexibility and control over the individual insurance market, and (4) its prospect of passing muster under “reconciliation.”

I won’t attempt to summarize Levin’s analysis of these issues. Instead, I will quote two passages that, in particular, caught my eye.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Lanhee Chen On The Senate Healthcare Bill

June 26 2017

 

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[Valin]

If Republicans Do Nothing against Obamacare, Their Voters Will Punish Them

A new poll shows that 10 percent of GOP voters would abandon the party in 2018.

John Fund

June 25, 2017

 

This week’s expected Senate vote on the Republican plan to alter Obamacare has ignited a debate about who will gain or lose from it. Democrats point to the fact that the GOP bill is so far more unpopular than Obamacare — 48 percent in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll say it’s a bad idea, versus 38 percent who think the same of Obamacare.

But many Republicans believe that survey data show voters will punish anyone who doesn’t substantially alter Obamacare, making passage of some reform imperative.

Both parties are gambling that intensity of feeling is on their side. Every single Senate Democrat is planning to oppose the GOP Senate bill, including ten Senate Democrats up for reelection next year in states won by President Trump. Some of those Democrats have voted to confirm Trump appointees such as Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, but on health care they are united.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hoping to keep his 52 Republican members united behind him. He is telling them that while the bill may be unpopular, doing nothing on health care would be even more unpopular and would be considered an abdication of responsibility by many voters.

After all, Republicans have railed against Obamacare for the last seven years and now finally control the executive branch as well as both houses of Congress. “If we don’t act now as Obamacare is collapsing, when will we or can we act?” asks Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, a former head of the House Freedom Caucus.

 

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[Valin]

33 minutes ago, Valin said:

Lanhee Chen On The Senate Healthcare Bill

June 26 2017

 

Audio

 

Debating Senator Ron Johnson On The Senate Healthcare Bill

 

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