The White House and House Speaker Paul Ryan didn't want a bipartisan health care effort interfering with their last-ditch push to strip health care coverage from millions of Americans, so they blackballed it. Politico writes:
House Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House have informed Senate Republican leaders that they oppose a bipartisan plan to stabilize Obamacare being written in the Senate, according to Trump administration and congressional sources, in a clear bid to boost the Senate's prospects of repealing the health law. [...]
Republicans say that while the bipartisan talks between Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) initially seemed promising, many in the GOP fear providing money for Obamacare but offering little for conservatives — especially after Republican lawmakers have been throttled by President Donald Trump and the GOP base for failing to repeal the health law.
Oh, so forget about how many millions of people do or don't have health care coverage: the GOP needs a legislative win in order to save face. That's primary.
Trump has threatened to withhold billions in Obamacare subsidies, which would upend private insurance markets. Alexander and Murray are working on legislation to have Congress provide those subsidies while allowing states more flexibility. [...]
The “speaker is drawing a red line” and said the House “would not be able to pass a bailout of insurers,” said one congressional source familiar with the dynamics. “The White House also told GOP leaders that [Obamacare subsidies] without repeal would not work.”
In essence: Your only choice is to cast a vote for this hack job piece of legislation that's going to inflict more harm on Americans than the last one and won't even be fully scored by the CBO before the vote.
It's all about the win. They need it. At any cost.
As Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said about the GOP bill during a Tuesday press conference aired on MSNBC:
I just heard our Republican colleagues speak, there was a word missing: people, patients, care. All this stuff—Democrat, Republican, governors, Washington—how about how this affects people? Millions will lose coverage. No guarantee of pre-existing conditions. And an end to Medicaid as we know it. [...] Our Republican colleagues don't seem to care about how this affects the average American.
Amen.
