HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/POLITICS: “Two groups of senators on Wednesday [9-13-17] released the details of diametrically opposed health plans, reflecting an enduring partisan split on health care despite calls for more bipartisanship after the failed Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
A week after Republicans and Democrats held the first bipartisan hearing on ways to fix the 2010 health-care law, the Senate was once more divided on Wednesday, with one side continuing efforts to undo the ACA and the other pushing to expand government-sponsored health coverage.
Neither plan holds any appeal to the opposite party, and they lack even full support from their respective caucuses. That leaves the question of how Congress can move ahead on health care amid a widespread perception that the ACA is flawed but that Republicans don’t have a politically viable replacement…
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) unveiled a bill to let states use federal ACA funds however they wish, possibly marking the final push in the current GOP effort to undo the ACA.
On the other side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), along with 16 Democrats, debuted a plan to build a Medicare-like government insurance system that would cover all Americans.
Both proposals face such high hurdles that many health-care analysts believe Congress will be able to make incremental changes at best.”
-Michelle Hackman, “Senate Backpedals on Bipartisan Approach to Health Law,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 13, 2017 05:35pm