At the beginning of this month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, basically,
no more health care repeal votes, we should do some real work now.
Scene change to today on the other side of Capitol Hill, where, as David Waldman explained, the big action the House is going to be taking this week, H.R. 5, is on a repeal bill. They call it the "Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act," though it has very little to actually do with health care. It's mostly about tort reform.
What's slightly different about this bill is that it has both a repeal and, believe it or not, replace component. It would repeal one of the mechanisms for cost savings in Medicare—the independent Payment Advisory Board—and replace it with a totally non-proven cost-saver that wouldn't affect Medicare, but has been one of very few concrete "reform" ideas the Republicans have come up with: tort reform.
The repeal legislation enjoyed notable Democratic support until last week, when GOP leaders announced plans to link it to another proposal to limit certain medical malpractice awards.
Still, the measures should attract support from Republicans and moderate/vulnerable Democrats to pass the House.
As with most of what the House has done, this is purely political posturing. They promised "repeal and replace," and this is what they came up with, hoping that they can make life uncomfortable for a few Democratic incumbents, have something to show the base, even while realizing it will die in the Senate. Where even Republicans aren't interested in having any more of these votes.
The House may as well have stayed in recess. They accomplish just as much when they're on vacation, and are a lot less destructive.