“It is clear that Mr. McConnell does not much care which of these proposals the Senate passes…. — he just wants to get a bill out of the Senate.” (A)

Maybe you’ve noticed that DOCTOR’S recent posts on TrumpCare are curatorial, not editorial. Only when congressional consideration is finished, and a bill is passed or not passed, will there be time to assess the impact.

“The Senate voted Wednesday to defeat a bill that would have repealed Obamacare within two years without any immediate plan to replace the sweeping health care law.
Senators voted 45-55 in favor of the bill, falling six votes short of the 51 needed to pass it. Seven Republicans voted against it: John McCain of Arizona, Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
The vote comes on the second day of a 20-hour Senate debate on health care as Republican leaders scramble to win enough votes from their own members to pass something to replace the Affordable Care Act. The Senate began its session Wednesday morning with about 17 hours left in the debate.”
“With the defeat of the comprehensive replacement bill and the “clean” repeal bill, GOP leaders are now looking to pass a “skinny repeal” bill that would make limited changes to Obamacare. It would likely strip out the law’s tax on medical devices and its requirements for individuals to buy health insurance and large employers to provide coverage for their workers.” (B)

“The Congressional Budget Office estimated the proposal would have resulted in 32 million more uninsured over the next decade. Three-quarters of the nation would live in areas with no insurers participating in the individual market by 2026, CBO said, leaving many without an option if they do not have employer-provided or government health insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid.”
Back in 2015, the passage of that bill was largely viewed as a political messaging exercise: GOP lawmakers were keenly aware that Obama would not sign it into law.
But now, with Republican President Donald Trump in the White House and ready to sign a bill, the stakes are real — as are the realities of voting to repeal the current health care law without a replacement in place.” (C)

“Ignoring overwhelming public opposition to legislation that would destroy the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans voted on Tuesday to begin repealing that law without having any workable plan to replace it.
The majority leader, Mitch McConnell, browbeat and cajoled 50 members of his caucus to vote to begin a debate on health care without even telling the country which of several competing bills he wanted to pass. Vice President Mike Pence provided the tiebreaking vote. The proposals vary in severity, but all of them would leave millions more people without health insurance and make medical care unaffordable for many low-income and middle-class families. It is clear that Mr. McConnell does not much care which of these proposals the Senate passes; for whatever reason — pride, White House pressure, sheer cussedness — he just wants to get a bill out of the Senate. It could then go into conference with the House, which passed its own terrible bill in May. (A)

(A) The Senate’s Health Care Travesty, By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/opinion/senate-health-care-vote.html
(B) Where we are now on the Senate health care bill: Clean repeal dead as GOP plods through debate, by Erin Kelly and Eliza Collins, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/07/26/senate-health-care-bill-whats-happening-now/511889001/
(C) Health care debate: Senate rejects full Obamacare repeal without replacement, by MJ Lee and Phil Mattingly, http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/health-care-bill-wednesday/index.html