House Republicans passed a TrumpCare bill that would impact all of our health coverage by dropping millions from their health care, hiking costs on working families, threatening rural hospitals, defunding Medicaid, and rolling back the progress we’ve made in fighting the opioid epidemic. The Republican House bill is a disaster—such a disaster that even members of their own party had plenty to say on how terrible it is. President Donald Trump even flat out called it “mean.”
Today, Senate Republicans released their version of TrumpCare that would have the same dangerous impact on American families. Will they have the same things to say about the Senate’s nearly identical bill?
Here are what a few Senate Republicans had to say about the House bill:
Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) “We will not support a plan that does not include stability for Medicaid expansion populations or flexibility for states…We believe Medicaid needs to be reformed, but reform should not come at the cost of disruption in access to health care for our country’s most vulnerable and sickest individuals.” [3/6/17]
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) “I don’t know if this bill is better … the worst thing we can do is replace it with a Republican-only alternative that doesn’t drive down costs, that doesn’t improve access to care.” [4/27/17]
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) On the 24 million that would lose coverage: “That’s not what President Trump promised, that’s not what Republicans ran on.” [3/22/17]
Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) On the 24 million that would lose coverage: “We need to do better…I want to see costs and premiums go down to make health care more affordable for Montana families.” [3/22/17]
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) On the 24 million that would lose coverage: “They’re right that coverage levels will go down in the coming years under the House bill. They’re also right, I’m afraid, that insurance premiums will continue to go up in the near term, for three to four years, before they start perhaps falling in the long term.” [3/22/17]
Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) On the 24 million that would lose coverage: “That’s yesterday’s news.” [5/25/17]
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) “We have to deal with three issues. The first is coverage. Under the House bill, 14 million Americans would lose coverage next year — that rises to 24 million over the next decade…We have to do something about the fact that the house bill disproportionately affects older, rural Americans…Third, we have to do something about the Medicaid changes, which ship billions of dollars of costs to the states, to hospitals and other people who are insured.” [3/19/17]
