It is great news that Sen. John McCain says he “cannot in good conscience” vote for the Republican healthcare bill. Take a minute to celebrate that news—and then pick up your phone and call your senator, because this fight isn’t over. It’s not just that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom “Jet man” Price is working to undermine Obamacare even if Graham-Cassidy goes down in flames—although he is.
It’s that, yeah, John McCain is voting the right way. Susan Collins is leaning that way. Rand Paul is opposing the bill from the right. Lisa Murkowski hasn’t said what she’s going to do. But we can’t relax and trust that those no votes will really materialize without pressure, and as long as this vote could slip back into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s slimy grasp, the only thing to do is keep calling your Republican senator.
That’s how we make sure this bill—this bill that would take health coverage from millions of people and put pre-existing condition protections and essential health benefits and protection from lifetime insurance caps in danger for so many more of us—is entirely dead. Call your Republican senator who’s voting no and thank him. Call your Republican senator who’s leaning no and urge her to do the right thing. Call your Republican senator who’s undecided and your Republican senator who’s voting yes and let them know where you stand. Let them know you’ll remember this in November 2018 and November 2020 and November 2022 for that matter.
We can beat this. But we can’t afford to sit back and relax.
We’ve won some important battles to save health care but we haven’t won the war. Republicans could still get the votes to repeal Obamacare. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote “NO” on any repeal bill. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)