GOP/HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: “The Republicans’ latest effort to repeal large parts of the Affordable Care Act this year suffered a likely death blow Monday [9-25-17], when Sen. Susan Collins’s declared opposition left it without enough votes to pass.
With no Democrats expected to support the legislation, Republican leaders can lose no more than two GOP votes to pass the bill, and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona had already said they wouldn’t support it. That leaves no clear path forward for the bill’s backers.
Ms. Collins’s opposition confronts Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) with the decision of whether to scrap a vote he said he intended to hold this week.
Mr. McConnell will be unable to pass the legislation without flipping one of the three defectors, none of whom left much wiggle room in their declarations of opposition.
The Republicans’ latest proposal would take much of the 2010 law’s funding and transform it into block grants, which states could use to shape their own health-care systems. Ms. Collins said the earlier and newer versions of the bill both ‘open the door for states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.’ “
-Stephanie Armour and Kristina Peterson, “Collins Becomes Third Republican to Oppose Graham-Cassidy Bill,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 25, 2017 06:49pm