The Reviews of Trumpcare in the Senate Are In: Editorial Boards Across the Country Blast New Senate Bill

USA Today Editorial:  Senate health bill hazardous to America

“After weeks of secret negotiations, Senate Republicans on Thursday took the wraps off their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. It deserves the old surgeon general's warning about cigarettes: This product may be hazardous to your health. Like its House counterpart, the Senate plan would end insurance coverage for millions of people, probably tens of millions. It's hard to know for sure, because the plan has yet to be evaluated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.” [USA Today, 6/22/17]

Washington Post Editorial:  Senate Republicans’ Obamacare replacement is bad for America’s health

“Senate Republican leaders released on Thursday a draft health-care bill, supposedly designed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. It includes a range of mostly unwise and ungenerous changes to the nation’s health-care system, but it might, if enacted, end up as mostly a massive, unpaid-for tax cut for wealthy people and industries with pull on Capitol Hill.” [Washington Post, 6/22/17]

National Review Editorial:  The Senate’s Flawed Health-Care Bill

“If the bill is not amended in such fashion, it is likely to die, and it will be difficult to mourn the loss.” [National Review, 6/23/17]

CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles Times Editorial:  Who wins and who loses in the Senate health bill (as if you can't guess)

“This is an ugly piece of work, as was the House bill on which it’s based. Worse, it was drafted in secret and is now on a fast track for a floor vote. Its main goal isn’t to improve healthcare in the United States. It’s to lower taxes on the affluent and cut spending, particularly on the poor. It’s not better care; it’s a bitter pill.” [Los Angeles Times, 6/23/17]

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial:  A Republican juggernaut is on track to demolish Obamacare

“In both its essentials and purpose, the Senate health care demolition job is a stunner. It falls in line with an earlier version from the GOP-dominated House and sends the same message: Republicans don’t think health care is worth the trouble or cost. The Senate bill, cooked up in secret by a subgroup of GOP senators, amounts to a politically contrived way to erase the Obama administration’s signature feat. It does exactly that: no more mandated coverage, cuts that will deprive more than 20 million consumers of insurance, and tax breaks for the wealthy. With no hearings so far and a hurry-up schedule for a final vote, Republicans are about to upend an industry that affects a sixth of the economy.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 6/22/17]

Mercury News Editorial:  Senate health care bill is unconscionable

“The 142-page Senate health care bill revealed Thursday was written in secret by 13 white men with little or no expertise on health care issues and no advice from doctors, hospitals or health economists, let alone from the public. It takes hundreds of billions of dollars now allocated to care for the working poor, women, children and elderly, and gives it to rich Americans in the form of a huge tax break. It is, to borrow President Trump’s behind the scenes assessment of the House’s bill, mean. We’ll add, unconscionable.” [Mercury News, 6/22/17]

Modesto Bee Editorial:  Ouch! If it becomes law, Senate’s healthcare overhaul is going to hurt

“We finally got a glimpse of the Senate’s attempt to ‘fix’ the American health care system. Turns out, it’s just as misguided and dangerous as the ‘fix’ proposed by House Republicans last month. If either version is signed into law by President Trump, it will unshakably fix into place only one thing – the perception that the Republican Party simply doesn’t care whether millions of Americans are healthy or hurting, breathing or wheezing, getting better or worse.” [Modesto Bee, 6/22/17]

Sacramento Bee Editorial:  And you thought Republicans’ health care bill couldn’t get worse

“So no matter the new name and a few tweaks, the bottom line of the Senate bill is the same: Millions of poorer people will lose their health insurance so that the richest Americans can get a huge tax cut they don’t need. One-sixth of the U.S. economy will be upended, with unknown risks and consequences. It’s also outrageous that 13 senators – all white men – drafted this bill in secret for weeks. And now they’re rushing to pass it next week before the July Fourth recess, before senators have to return home and face their constituents. And who knows what goodies for Big Pharma and other special interests may be hidden in the 142 pages.” [Sacramento Bee, 6/22/17]

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut Post Editorial:  Senate health care plan short on care

“The Senate version, finally made public on Thursday, gives new definition to ‘mean.’ It would severely curtail Medicaid funding, which provides health care to one in five Americans, the low-income and two-thirds of the elderly in nursing homes. Out-of-pocket costs would rise. It would strip the requirement that larger companies must provide a reasonably affordable health care plan for employees. It would hand tax breaks to the wealthy. The Senate health care plan takes from those who need it most and gives to those who already have plenty. This is no way to reform health care.” [Connecticut Post, 6/23/17]

ILLINOIS

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial:  Senate GOP health care bill hammers Illinois, while Rauner is AWOL

“The Senate bill is as mean-spirited as the House bill. Illinois would get hammered even harder. And Gov. Bruce Rauner is still AWOL. Other than that, what’s not to like? The rich, at least, would get richer. It is no surprise that the proposed Senate Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, finally dragged into the light Thursday, is horribly wrong-headed.“ [Chicago Sun-Times, 6/22/17]

LOUISIANA

Advocate Editorial:  Bill Cassidy, John Kennedy shouldn't rush health care bill; it's 'a life and death issue'

“Advocates for the poor and working families appear to be most agitated by a new health care bill springing from the U.S. Senate's back rooms and being fast-tracked to a vote. Their concerns are legitimate, for if the new Republican leadership in Washington wants to cut taxes and reduce costs, the state-local Medicaid program of health care for low-wage workers and many of the elderly in nursing homes could be cut over time.” [Advocate, 6/23/17]

MAINE

Portland Press Herald Editorial:  Sen. Collins should fight Senate health care bill

“Sen. Susan Collins says she will spend the next few days carefully reviewing the new Affordable Care Act repeal proposal, taking a hard look at an upcoming analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and considering what she has learned from her conversations with constituents in Maine. We admire her diligence, but we think Collins already has enough information to know what she should do. This bill would be bad for Maine and bad for America, and the senator should speak out against it as forcefully as possible.” [Portland Press Herald, 6/23/17]

MARYLAND

Baltimore Sun Editorial:  New GOP health care bill is just as bad as the old one

“For weeks, Americans were left to wonder what 13 Republican senators were doing in their behind-closed-doors rewrite of the American Health Care Act. Now that they’ve released the bill, we’re left to wonder … what in the heck were they doing? This new bill is almost exactly the same as the old one and is likely to have the same devastating consequences for millions of Americans.” [Baltimore Sun, 6/22/17]

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston Globe Editorial:  To no one’s surprise, Senate health care bill only makes matters worse

“Their dirty little secret is officially out. The Senate’s ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act,’ which was finally released to the public on Thursday morning ,doesn’t provide better care for anyone. Instead, it guarantees things will get worse for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled.” [Boston Globe, 6/22/17]

Springfield Republican Editorial:  Health-care rallying cry: At least it's not Obamacare

“If Obamacare sought to see that most folk had affordable health insurance, Trumpcare - and that's what it will be known as if it becomes law - tells many of those people to go straight to hell. Did the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have real problems? Yes, absolutely. But the GOP bill, officially called the American Health Care Act, makes no effort to fix what's wrong with the current law. Rather, it strips out protections and leaves many people out in the cold.” [Springfield Republican, 6/23/17]

MISSOURI

Kansas City Star Editorial:  Medicaid cuts would be a devastating blow for rural America

“Thursday, Senate Republicans released their own version of an Obamacare replacement bill. It too is crammed with provisions that would harm the very constituents senators have pledged to protect. Senate Republicans say they want to cut premiums, for example, so the bill gives states the right to abandon ‘essential health benefits’ in health policies. Make no mistake: Those cheaper premiums will mean bare-bones insurance policies and higher out-of-pocket costs.” [Kansas City Star, 6/22/17]

NEW JERSEY

Bergen County Record Editorial: Slow down McConnell’s quick fix

“Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate lifted the drapes on their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. What we saw, at first blush, doesn’t look that much different from what House Republicans put center stage earlier this spring. Many lower-income Americans will pay more for less, while wealthier ones will reap some benefit. This is not a good outcome.” [Bergen County Record, 6/22/17]

NEW YORK

New York Times Editorial:  The Senate’s Unaffordable Care Act

“It would be a big mistake to call the legislation Senate Republicans released on Thursday a health care bill. It is, plain and simple, a plan to cut taxes for the wealthy by destroying critical federal programs that help provide health care to tens of millions of people. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and other Republicans have pitched the bill as a fix for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But their true ambition is not to reform Obamacare, which, whatever its shortcomings, has given 20 million Americans access to health insurance.” [NY Times, 6/23/17]

Newsday Editorial:  Senate bill a tax cut for the rich dressed up as health reform

“The Senate’s bill, largely the same as the American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives, and Trump’s support for both, make that clear. These bills would decimate Medicaid with more than $800 billion in spending cuts over a decade, weaken the Medicare trust fund, and leave tens of millions more people without insurance than under current law. They would drive up prices for older consumers, and sicker ones, and those who need the kind of comprehensive policies Obamacare made mandatory. Trump has wavered in his reaction to the bills. He held a huge party to celebrate the House’s passage of the AHCA in May, but recently called it ‘mean, mean, mean.’ Trump’s problem is that these bills are a tax cut for the wealthy masquerading as a health care reform.” [Newsday, 6/22/17]

NORTH CAROLINA

Charlotte Observer Editorial:  Senate health plan is a little Obamacare with a lot of pain

“But make no mistake: The Senate’s plan, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, is an awful bill. It shares broad and troubling similarities to the AHCA, trading less coverage and higher premiums for the poor in exchange for tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy. Like the AHCA, it will surely result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance; the Congressional Budget Office will assess how bad that damage is next week.” [Charlotte Observer, 6/22/17]

Raleigh News & Observer Editorial:  Senate GOP health care bill fails America

“The Senate version of its replacement, which has yet to undergo scrutiny from the Congressional Budget Office, is steeped in reckless disrespect for the intelligence of the American people, and a callous and even dangerous attitude toward the poor and the middle class when it comes to ensuring their health care. Which it doesn’t.” [Raleigh News & Observer, 6/22/17]

OHIO

Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial:  Sen. Rob. Portman must vote "no" on deeply flawed Senate health care bill

“The Senate bill, like its House-passed template, is in essence a tax cut for high-income people that will be paid for by taking health care coverage away from low-income people -- and denying opioid addiction treatment to millions, a dreadful burden in states like Ohio where the opioid epidemic is raging most intensely. With healthcare cuts to beneficiaries and tax cuts for well-off families, an uncertain future lies ahead for the Senate version of a new healthcare bill to replace Obamacare. Portman has said he will protect Medicaid opioid money. In the context of the McConnell bill, that means voting ‘no.’” [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6/22/17]

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial:  Senate Republicans' Trumpcare bill just as bad as the House's

“The Senate must not have heard President Trump’s description of the House’s proposed Obamacare replacement as ‘mean’ because the legislation finally revealed by the upper chamber Thursday generally duplicates the worst parts of a bill that threatens Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/22/17]

VERMONT

Rutland Herald Editorial:  Attack on America

“The cuts in funding for health care are accompanied by cuts in taxes for wealthy taxpayers, and it is worth asking Republican senators what their plan says about the priority of America’s problems. On the one hand, there is an epidemic of addiction and death that is claiming the lives of tens of thousands of Americans every years, ravaging communities, ruining families, depressing economies, overburdening state budgets. On the other hand, Republicans appear to believe that a more pressing problem is that the wealthiest Americans — the billionaires of Fifth Avenue, Palm Beach, Dallas and Hollywood — don’t have enough money. Giving them more money by cutting their taxes would address this problem, and that is what the Republicans’ repeal of Obamacare would do.” [Rutland Herald, 6/23/17]

WASHINGTON

Everett Herald:  Senate GOP’s bill more ‘bitter pill’ than ‘Better Care’

“But both versions still amount to tax cuts for the wealthy — repealing the tax increases passed to pay for the ACA — disguised as health care reforms; they seek to cut federal support for Medicaid and insurance subsidies for low-income people and cancel Medicare reimbursements for women who rely on Planned Parenthood for their care. The most disturbing provisions of both bills are cuts to Medicaid, which provides medical care for nearly 70 million Americans who are poor, seniors or disabled and pays for nearly 1 of every 2 births in the nation. In Washington state, more than 600,000 depend on Medicaid coverage.” [Everett Herald, 6/23/17]

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