What They’re Saying – Local Editorial Boards Across The Country Blast Updated Senate GOP Healthcare Bill – Bill Would Devastate Medicaid And Gut Protections For Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions

ALABAMA

Anniston Star Editorial:  Silent Ivey -- Speak up on health care, governor

“Alabama stands to be a big loser in the Republican plans on the table. Its Medicaid program, already operating at the minimum level, stands to lose federal dollars over time. Even in its bare-bones condition, that program supports the poorest children in Alabama and in the process keeps many of the state’s health-care providers afloat, especially those in rural areas.” [Anniston Star, 7/15/17]

CALIFORNIA

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial:  Senate health legislation deserves to die

“The latest attempt to translate into legislation Trump’s vague but primal urge to undo his predecessor’s health care law reflects the fundamental ignorance, irrationality and amorality of the president’s approach. While Trump has endlessly disparaged ‘Obamacare’ as a ‘disaster,’ it is he who seems consumed by the desire to put his name on something — anything — and damn the consequences for the country. The Senate’s latest health care bill remains similarly preoccupied with cobbling together a political win regardless of the policy impact. The legislation, resurrected this week after a first attempt failed to hold together the Republicans’ narrow majority, retains provisions rolling back the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid coverage and its mandate to obtain health insurance. As such it can be counted on, like its Senate predecessor and the bill narrowly passed by the House, to return more than 20 million Americans to the ranks of the uninsured and unravel the Affordable Care Act’s signature achievement.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/14/17]

Los Angeles Times Editorial:  The new GOP healthcare bill is more conservative and more moderate, and still plain bad

“Instead, the new version of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act” would continue to push insurance coverage out of reach for many Americans, particularly the working poor and moderate-income adults with pre-existing conditions. And in a new twist, it would reward insurers financially for offering cheap policies to younger, healthier consumers, pitting those individuals against people who want or need more comprehensive coverage.” [Los Angeles Times, 7/14/17]

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington Post Editorial:  The new Senate health-care bill may be worse than the old one

“The Congressional Budget Office projected that the previous iteration would result in 22 million more uninsured in a decade. ‘Looking at the revised Senate health bill, it’s hard to see how it could meaningfully alter CBO’s projection of how the uninsured will grow,’ the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt noted. ‘The revised Senate bill reinstates taxes on wealthy people, but it mostly does not spend that money on health care for low-income people.’ In their revision, Senate leaders tried to blunt the charge that the GOP wants to cut poor people’s health care to fund tax cuts for the rich. Taxes on wealthy people’s investment income were indeed maintained. But the bill would deeply slash Medicaid, the state-federal program covering the poor and near-poor, just as before. And it would still use the savings to fund an array of tax cuts, including a break for medical-device manufacturers. It would even add a new tax break expanding tax-advantaged health savings accounts, which would mostly benefit wealthier people who have savings to put into them.” [Washington Post, 7/13/17]

FLORIDA

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial:  New Trumpcare is just lipstick on a pig

“In its place, McConnell adopts one of Ted Cruz's worst ideas, a scheme to let some companies on the public exchanges sell policies that don't meet Obamacare's minimum standards. For example, plans without pregnancy coverage would have an obvious appeal to the sort of man who doesn't mind making women pay more if it lets him pay less. Polls show the public, including most men, strongly opposed to this. But Marco Rubio, Florida's junior senator, says he likes it. Translation: He's pathetically eager to give Donald Trump something to sign, no matter the human toll. Allowing the sale of inadequate policies has malicious consequences. It tempts some to buy coverage that will fail them in the event of serious or costly injury or illness. It's also a sly way of denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and allowing them to be dropped when they're sick. Policies might still be available, but few could afford them with young and healthy people no longer in the mix. Worst of all, McConnell continues to use the Republican Party's manic obsession with repealing Obamacare as a pretext to begin the destruction of Medicaid.” [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 7/15/17]

ILLINOIS

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial:  Rauner should lead charge to protect Illinois health care

“Like other states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Illinois would lose federal dollars that provide health care for many of its residents. The damage also would be felt in Cook County, whose Health and Hospitals System has been on much firmer financial group since the ACA went into effect because many more patients have health insurance. Illinois could lose $4 billion a year in Medicaid funding, which could lead to 650,000 of the state’s residents losing their health care. That number doesn’t include people who buy health insurance through the ACA but who will be forced out by soaring premiums.” [Chicago Sun-Times, 7/14/17]

KANSAS

Topeka Capital-Journal Editorial:  Moran should resist the Senate health bill

“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that the Senate health bill will leave 22 million Americans uninsured by 2026 — one of many reasons why less than 20 percent of U.S. adults support it. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this staggering total includes 120,000 Kansans. It has never been more important for Moran to oppose his party.” [Topeka Capital-Journal, 7/15/17]

KENTUCKY

Frankfort State Journal Editorial:  Time to pull the plug on latest health care bill

“The halting effort to kill Obamacare has resulted in legislation that somehow angers the most ardent members of each party and even industries meant to be boosted by the current law’s demise. More important, it has the potential to harm thousands of vulnerable Kentucky residents who would likely go back to having no health coverage. The current bill would also include large Medicaid cuts in addition to the ones looming under the state’s newly implemented waiver system. The expansion of that program was a rare law that had its intended consequence, but it hasn’t had time to have the kind of widespread impact it might. Although it comes with a high cost, it is one that is worth paying if we want to start reversing our generational problems.” [Frankfort State Journal, 7/15/17]

MARYLAND

Baltimore Sun Editorial:  Senate health care bill: What about bipartisanship?

“Remember the backlash when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 22 million Americans would lose health insurance under the last Senate version? Well, this one might leave more without coverage. There are drastic cuts to Medicaid and a return to rules that would allow health insurers to refuse coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies would be able to sell policies that don’t cover as much. Meanwhile there’s still a handout to the wealthy, some rollback of taxes and a bigger tax break for those who can afford health savings accounts.” [Baltimore Sun, 7/14/17]

MINNESOTA

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Editorial:  Even with revisions, Senate health bill still hurts far more than it helps

“The changes allow older people to be charged five times more than younger people. Under the Obama law, this was capped at three times more. Both GOP plans also lower the eligibility threshold for premium payment assistance from 400 percent of the federally set poverty income level to 350 percent. Revisions to the Senate bill, which were released Thursday, were an opportunity to fix these harsh changes. Regrettably, the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) left them in place while making other dubious changes — namely, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's amendment — that would destabilize the individual health insurance market and make comprehensive coverage even less affordable. The Cruz measure would allow people to buy skimpy policies that are cheap but cover very little. The result: Costs will soar for those who want real coverage — such as policies that cover cancer treatment, for example.” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 7/14/17]

MISSOURI

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial:  New GOP healthcare bill is as fundamentally wrong as all the others

“Version 5.0 suffers from the same basic problem as its four predecessors: At its heart, it’s really an attempt by the well-off to cut spending for the less fortunate. Fundamentally, it is an attack on Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, the disabled, children and nursing home patients.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/15/17]

Springfield News-Leader Editorial:  Senators should walk away from proposed health bill, toward compromise

“Health groups, like the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians, have opposed the plan for a variety of reasons including what care it would offer for women. And while Missouri wasn’t one of the state’s to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, the proposed caps on Medicaid payments are very troubling in a state with such a tight budget. If we’re looking at cutting Medicaid coverage, that means cutting coverage for the elderly, disabled and children of poor Missourians. Medicaid pays for 63 percent of all nursing home care in our state.” [Springfield News-Leader, 7/15/17]

NEW JERSEY

Newark Star-Ledger Editorial:  Why the opioid money in Trumpcare won't do the trick

“The cruel math hasn't changed. The newest Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate still includes the steep Medicaid cuts that the House bill did. It still cuts taxes for the wealthy. And it would still make our drug crisis, which now kills more Americans than guns or car crashes, even worse. This time, in an effort to appease some Republican senators who recognized the disastrous results to their opioid-ravaged states, the bill allocates $45 billion to drug treatment over the next decade. Don't be duped. That's not nearly enough to meet the need. This would require more than four times as much money, experts say, a cost estimated at as much as $183 billion over 10 years.” [Newark Star-Ledger, 7/17/17]

Bergen County Record Editorial:  Senate Health Care 2.0 or ‘Botched’

“The new bill cuts $772 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years. There are even more cuts into federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025. Medicaid coverage is essential to many Americans – and not just the easily targeted low-income ones, but also the elderly. In 2025, Medicaid payments will be tied to the consumer price index. But medical costs do not rise at the rate of inflation, they rise at higher levels. That means there will be a funding gap. States would either have to pick up the tab or leave elderly individuals who depend on Medicaid to pay for nursing home care literally out in the cold.” [Bergen County Record, 7/14/17]

NEW YORK

New York Times Editorial:  A Scary New Senate Health Care Bill

“On Thursday, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, produced revised legislation that could effectively make it impossible for many people with pre-existing medical conditions to afford the treatment they need. Even people who are healthy now could find themselves unable to pay for comprehensive health insurance when they become sick. In addition, the bill still includes drastic cuts to Medicaid, which provides care to about 70 million people. In essence, the Senate leader just swatted away the concerns of Republican senators and governors who questioned those cuts.” [New York Times, 7/13/17]

Newsday Editorial:  Slightly better, Senate health plan 2.0 still would hurt millions

“But the plan would still decimate Medicaid, knocking an estimated 15 million people off the rolls. It would keep in place a 3.8 percent Affordable Care Act tax on many higher-earning individuals, even as drug, insurance and medical device companies keep their tax cuts. And it includes an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz that would let insurers sell substandard plans people could use federal subsidies to buy, as long as the companies also offer comprehensive ones. That means healthy young people buying skimpy coverage, and an elderly and ill pool of customers buying much more expensive, broad plans. It’s such a destructive idea that the insurance companies that would be freed to offer the new products oppose the option wholeheartedly.” [Newsday, 7/13/17]

NORTH CAROLINA

Raleigh News & Observer Editorial:  Senate bill driven purely by ideology, anti-Obama views

“The revised ‘repeal and replace’ health care insurance plan from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is an unnecessary exercise in partisan gamesmanship. It is virtually unintelligible and contains a little favor for moderates and a favor here and there for conservatives and would result in a health care insurance system few could understand and one that would leave more Americans at risk. It is the old jalopy of legislation: You may get it running (meaning through the Senate), but you know it’s going to break down eventually. McConnell and his ideological soulmates in the Senate have tried to make the Affordable Care Act, or ‘Obamacare’ as they prefer, political profanity. But the problem is, the popularity of the ACA has grown as more Americans have found it a lifesaver, literally and figuratively. More than 20 million have insurance under the ACA who wouldn’t have it otherwise; children have been covered until age 26 under parents’ policies; those with pre-existing conditions who previously have been denied by insurance companies are now covered.” [Raleigh News & Observer, 7/14/17]

Jacksonville Daily News Editorial:  Small, rural hospitals face a bleak future

“As Congress attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, it is moving toward ending Medicaid expansion as an option for any states that haven’t already done it, and the health-care legislation unveiled in the Senate last week would also shrink Medicaid funding by about 30 percent over the coming years. This guarantees a growing funding crisis even for good-sized hospitals in lower-wealth communities and increases the likelihood that many more rural hospitals will shut down or at least go into bankruptcy as Morehead Memorial did last week.” [Jacksonville Daily News, 7/14/17]

PENNSYLVANIA

Pottsville Republican-Herald Editorial:  Time for bipartisan approach

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s third health care bill lurches even farther to the right to lure some members of his caucus who thought the earlier versions were not draconian enough. The new version continues an assault not only on the Medicaid expansion that was a key part of the Affordable Care Act, but on the broader Medicaid program. It would create a $45 billion long-term fund dedicated to opioid addiction treatment, but that is far less than the value of simply covering treatment.” [Pottsville Republican-Herald, 7/16/17]

WEST VIRGINIA

Charleston Gazette-Mail Editorial:  Congress members who save health care will be heroes

“It’s shameful West Virginia’s three Republican members of the House of Representatives voted to revoke medical insurance for 20 million. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporter Jake Zuckerman: ‘I don’t know how anyone in their right — I don’t know how our three congressmen voted for it, knowing it’s such a flawed piece of legislation that will hurt so many West Virginians.’ It will be a human disaster if Republicans succeed in slashing health care coverage. Save Our Care cited polls showing only 12 percent of Americans support the GOP effort.” [Charleston Gazette-Mail, 7/16/17] 

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