President Trump would sign the Graham-Cassidy bill if the legislation to repeal Obamacare makes it to his desk…. IT JUST MIGHT MAKE IT THERE!

“The Congressional Budget Office says it won’t be able to provide crucial projections about the impact of the newest Republican (health care) bill….until after the Senate is expected to vote on it.”
“House Speaker Paul Ryan says he is encouraging every Republican senator to vote for the latest, last-ditch effort in the Senate to dismantle Barack Obama’s health care law….Due to Senate deadlines, there would be no time for the House and Senate to try to work out their differences. The House backed a bill in May that went nowhere in the Senate. Ryan signaled that he would try to get the House to pass the Senate bill….
The nonpartisan CBO tweeted Monday that it would take “at least several weeks” to estimate the measure’s effect on the number of people covered and insurance customers’ premiums. That is crucial information for GOP senators trying to determine how the proposal would affect their states and whether to support the legislation.” (A)

“In a new Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have released a plan that would essentially allow states to come up with their own health care plans using a federal block grant….
Like earlier Republican health care overhaul bills, the new bill would also make permanent, structural changes to the Medicaid program for beneficiaries who qualified before the expansion, converting it from an open-ended federal health care program to one that caps federal spending on each beneficiary. (B)
To see “How the bill would alter major parts of Obamacare” highlight and click on https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/us/cassidy-graham-health-plan-aca-repeal.html

“In reality, Graham-Cassidy is the opposite of moderate. It contains, in exaggerated and almost caricature form, all the elements that made previous Republican proposals so cruel and destructive. It would eliminate the individual mandate, undermine if not effectively eliminate protection for people with pre-existing conditions, and slash funding for subsidies and Medicaid. There are a few additional twists, but they’re all bad — notably, a funding formula that would penalize states that are actually successful in reducing the number of uninsured.” (C)

“Analysts say the Graham-Cassidy measure would more drastically remold the ACA by giving states virtually unlimited control over federal dollars that are currently spent on marketplace subsidies and Medicaid expansion. The bill looks to roll back Medicaid expansion and eliminate federal premium subsidies and instead distribute the money spent on these programs to states in the form of block grants. A per-capita Medicaid cap would be imposed under the bill, setting a limit on the amount of Medicaid dollars each enrollee is eligible to receive. Because block grant funding is also capped, states would not be able to give premium subsidies to those who become eligible for such subsidies if their economic conditions change.” (D)

“Republican leaders are now trying to determine whether they have enough votes to begin debate on the bill, according to Senate aides. They are also trying to get Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose “no” vote sank the most recent Republican health-care bill in July, fully on board…
“Why did Obamacare fail? Obamacare was rammed through with Democrats’ votes only. … That’s not the way to do it. We’ve got to go back. If I could just say again, the way to do this is have a bill, put it through committee,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Senate Republicans have a very slim path to victory on Graham-Cassidy: If more than two Republicans vote no, the bill won’t pass. The math became even harder once Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced his opposition Friday.” (E)

“President Donald Trump would sign the Graham-Cassidy bill if the legislation to repeal Obamacare makes it to his desk….”
“Collins, the Maine Republican who voted against a repeal bill earlier this year, said that she has a “number of concerns,” including the fact the bill would restructure Medicaid in a fundamental way without considering the ramifications. For Maine, it would be $1 billion less funding over a decade, she said. People would preexisting conditions would also be hurt.
“It seems to have many of the same flaws of the bill we rejected previously and in fact, it has some additional flaws because there’s some language that leads me to believe that people worth preexisting conditions would not be protected in some states,” Collins said….”It’s difficult not having a CBO analysis to rely on,” she noted.” (F)

(A) The Latest: Ryan rooting for Senate GOP health care overhaul, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/latest-budget-office-time-health-bill-49937099
(B) The Latest Health Care Repeal Plan Would Give States Sweeping Discretion, by HAEYOUN PARK and MARGOT SANGER-KATZ, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/us/cassidy-graham-health-plan-aca-repeal.html
(C) Complacency Could Kill Health Care, by Paul Krugman, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/opinion/health-care-graham-cassidy.html?_r=0
(D) ACA repeal in 11 days? 10 things to know Tuesday about the Graham-Cassidy bill, by Leo Vartorella, http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/aca-repeal-in-11-days-10-things-to-know-tuesday-about-the-graham-cassidy-bill.html
(E) Senate Republicans fast-track last-ditch Obamacare repeal, by Elise Viebeck and David Weigel, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-gop-aca-repeal-20170917-story.html
(F) Trump, White House go all-out for Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal bill, by Kaitlan Collins, http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/politics/trump-graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal/index.html