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You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / McCain and what do we know

McCain and what do we know

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As most people know, Senator McCain (R-AZ) had surgery on Friday to address a blood clot. He is in Arizona for at least a week to recover. Senate Majority Leader McConnell has rescheduled the vote on the BCRA for a week.

So what do we know now:

1) Paul and Collins are hard “No” who will not give a courtesy “yes” on a motion to proceed
2) Democrats won’t give a courtesy vote match (ie one Democrat not voting to match McCain)
3) The CBO will have gotten at least another week to score the Cruz amendment
4) More time to pressure expansion state Republican governors to pressure their Republican senators.
5) Sure nice to have good insurance to take care of problems when they pop up.

6) Time to call the Senate.

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    Nora

    One week? Really? After a craniotomy and brain surgery? At his age? Someone is engaging in wishful thinking, I believe.

  2. 2.

    hueyplong

    Cautiously optimistic as of this AM, but if I’m wrong and McConnell hits some kind of one-day window in which the arm twisting has him at 50 for sure (with McCain), we might be treated to the spectacle of McCain being wheeled into the Senate and “assisted” in casting a vote to proceed.

    Any Democrat who doesn’t use that in a 2018 campaign deserves to lose.

  4. 4.

    Kay

    Trump broke all his campaign promises on health care. I know you’re all going to say that it doesn’t matter, but it does matter. He didn’t win with just the Trumpster faithful.

    The people I talk to who are Trump voters (70% of voters in this county) don’t deal in nuance. A lot of them think he is planning to end Medicaid and a lot of them are ON Medicaid- whether it’s themselves, their children, or elderly relatives in nursing homes.

    The first problem they run into with Medicaid they’re going to blame Trump.

  6. 6.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Well the GOP do run on crazy logic now. They all seem frantic about not being the Republican who says “no” so it makes McCain’s blood clot surprisingly convenient for the moderates.

    I suspect it’s more accurate to say the Republican party does have moderates, it’s simply the moderates have no spine.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I’m thinking that with Manchin(D) being the other Senator from WV, it isn’t near as red as Texas.

  11. 11.

    eclare

    Someone posted in a thread yesterday that Ron Johnson is now no, but I haven’t seen that.

  12. 12.

    dr. bloor

    @Nora: FTFNYT had an article up last night about how this might be more serious than initially thought, although it was mostly speculation. One of the quoted neurosurgeons said that if the clot was subdural–which would be consistent with the time line and procedure reported–a quick course isn’t at all out of the question.

  13. 13.

    hueyplong

    At least as far as news accounts go, Johnson appears to be in the “concerned” camp, which generally translates to “you haven’t met my price for a yes yet” with its corollary of bravely announcing a no vote only after a version of the bill is officially short of 50.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    ) The CBO will have gotten at least another week to score the Cruz amendment

    Yep..Turtle thought he could get a vote slid on by without it.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Trump broke all his campaign promises on health care. I know you’re all going to say that it doesn’t matter, but it does matter. He didn’t win with just the Trumpster faithful.

    It doesn’t matter to me.
    When you vote for THE PARTY that took OVER 50 VOTES TO REPEAL OBAMACARE..

    What THE PHUCK do you think is going to happen when that party gets into power?

    That level disconnect…I don’t care. I’m not supposed to care for mofos that slit their own throats.

    The first problem they run into with Medicaid they’re going to blame Trump.

    GOOD. And, they can blame themselves for voting for him.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    “How the Republican health-care bill could raise premiums for 177 million Americans”

    Excerpt:

    A leading business coalition has warned that employers could pick up the tab if millions of people lose their coverage under the Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

    David Lansky, president and chief executive of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a nonprofit organization whose members include Boeing, Chevron, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Intel, Walmart and the Walt Disney Company, told The Washington Post that the Senate proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act could push the costs of providing health care to uninsured people onto employers and their workers.
    Approximately 177 million Americans receive insurance through employers. Until now those plans have been largely left out of the debate over the future of the Senate health bill, which would make long-term cuts to Medicaid, the government health program for the poor, and reshape the individual market where people buy their own coverage.

    But if the bill is passed and more people are uninsured, or public sector programs facing federal funding cuts decrease their reimbursements, Lansky said hospitals will simply shift those costs onto commercially insured patients — namely employers and employees.

    He added that if Medicaid is cut and the individual market doesn’t provide affordable, comprehensive coverage, new workers may delay care until they get a job — which could make workers less productive and also create an initial surge in health-care costs that could increase premiums.

    “Any additional cuts to public programs are likely to make additional increases [on costs] to the employer and the employee — at a time that most of us are worried about what we’re spending on health care,” Lansky said.

  18. 18.

    bystander

    I believe that McCain will have an epiphany as he looks around at all the people around him using their expertise to keep him alive. He will realize that all Americans are entitled to the same level of healthcare he receives.

    Then he’ll hit the morphine pump and go back to sleep. The guy who dumped the mother of his children after she stood by him while he was a POW? The guy who walked away from her after she had been badly injured in a car wreck?

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    Mayhew, did you see this?

    TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?
    WHAT THE PHUCK????!!!

    In Montana, Medicaid expansion’s success could be too much of a good thing as state officials ponder program’s fate. https://t.co/LlKyt9Z0Uk

    — AP West Region (@APWestRegion) July 17, 2017

    Excerpt from article linked in tweet:

    BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — For all the uncertainty over the fate of a health care overhaul in Washington, tens of thousands of Montana’s working poor are already in a double quandary: Even if Congress leaves Medicaid expansion mostly intact, the future of the state’s program remains uncertain.

    Gov. Steve Bullock, who counts Medicaid expansion as a key achievement in his first term, has less than two years to justify its continuation. The program is scheduled to end in 2019 if state lawmakers decline to renew it during the legislative session that starts in January of that year.
    Among the 31 states with expanded Medicaid, Montana’s program is unique. As part of a grand bargain to placate moderate Republicans in the conservative-leaning state, Bullock and his fellow Democrats agreed to charge most enrollees premiums and co-pays, establish a jobs program intended to help able-bodied Medicaid recipients find good-paying work, and seek reauthorization.

    While Montana Democrats tout their state’s plummeting number of medically uninsured — from 20 percent of the population in 2013 to 7 percent last year — the number of Medicaid enrollees has far exceeded expectations, and some worry the program cannot be sustained.

    Since it took effect in January of last year, nearly 80,000 of Montana’s 1 million residents have enrolled. The state had projected only 33,000 by this time.

  20. 20.

    ThresherK

    I would like to be shocked at the media’s coverage of the wavering GOP Moderates.

    But all I can picture is our press corps wondering whether a Susan Collins or John McCain would throw an infant into the tiger pit at a zoo.

    Thinking about voting against this piece of crap bill shouldn’t give you a fucking Hosanna.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    Despite McConnell’s Delay, Trumpcare Could Still Make It Through the Senate
    by D.R. Tucker
    July 16, 2017 3:00 PM
    POLITICAL ANIMAL

    Like the proverbial horror-movie character whose hand rises up from the grave, let’s not assume that the monster known as Trumpcare is dead and buried yet.

    Yes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has, ironically enough, delayed the effort to kill the Affordable Care Act until after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) recovers from surgery to remove a blood clot near his eye. However, once McCain recovers, it’s quite likely that there will be a renewed effort to push Trumpcare through the Senate–if for no other reason than to provide a nice, shiny distraction from the gathering Russiagate storm.

    Speaking with Jake Tapper this morning on CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)–one of only two on-the-record Republican opponents of Trumpcare–noted that there are several Republican Senators who still have misgivings about Trumpcare. The problem is, it’s impossible to imagine these Senators resisting hyper-intense right-wing pressure to vote for the bill; frankly, it’s impossible to see Collins and fellow Trumpcare opponent Rand Paul (R-KY) not ultimately changing their minds and surrendering to McConnell and Trump.

    As Philip Bump suggests, one cannot ignore the influence of the GOP’s extremist base in the discussion over whether skeptical Republican Senators will ultimately fall in line with the effort to kill the Affordable Care Act:

  22. 22.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: Yeah, and after they blame Trump they will still vote for the same Republicans for everything from dog catcher to governor to the Senate.

    I just learned that my friend’s right-wing nut job of a SIL has officially given up on Trump. Frankly, I’m surprised he caught on so quickly. But even if he wanted to vote for Trump ever again, well, Trump isn’t going to run again.

    He’ll keep voting for other assholes who will continue to muck things up.

  23. 23.

    Punchy

    Paul and Collins are hard “No” who will not give a courtesy “yes” on a motion to proceed

    Bullshit. They’ll fall in line. They always do.

  24. 24.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: It is amusing to me that anyone could be shocked to find out that there are a lot of poor people in Montana. Maybe they underestimated on purpose to get it through the first time?

    Montana is one of those states that has always seemed to me to be like an internal colony in the sense that it is a place where most of the wealth is owned and extracted by outsiders.

  25. 25.

    Ohio Mom

    I got my usually tardy kid out of the house on time, scolded my Senator’s interns, confirmed a doctor’s appointment, and caught up on what’s going on here.

    Time to get going on the rest of the day!

  26. 26.

    tamiasmin

    I wonder if McConnell would delay the vote if a Democrat was hospitalized. You know, old-school chivalry and fair play.

    Silly, silly me. He’s more likely to push some Democrat down a flight of stairs to let Pence break a 49–49 tie.

  27. 27.

    Major Major Major Major

    It would be karmic justice if Obamacare passed even after the death of one of its champions, yet Republicans, after running on repealing it since before it was even signed, can’t get a bill passed as a result of one surgery.

  28. 28.

    Hal

    If Collins really wants to be governor of Maine in 2018, and no on this bill would seem to be a no brainer. She has nothing to lose in the Senate.

  29. 29.

    japa21

    2) Democrats won’t give a courtesy vote match (ie one Democrat not voting to match McCain)

    Don’t understand this. Wouldn’t matter if a Dem didn’t vote. They still need 51 (including Pence) to pass.

  30. 30.

    hueyplong

    @Hal: The fact that she isn’t subject to a primary is probably the only reason she’s a “no” as of this AM.

  32. 32.

    The Moar You Know

    Democrats won’t give a courtesy vote match (ie one Democrat not voting to match McCain)

    Somebody please tell me this isn’t actually a thing. God knows Republicans would never do it for Dems.

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    Another Twitter explanation from Andy Slavitt:

    Andy Slavitt ‏Verified account @ASlavitt 6h6 hours ago

    1. Having a lot of conversations today with people on all sides of the Senate health bill jockeying.

    Some tweets coming up.
    2. I need one more hour because things are evolving quickly. Follow if interested.
    3. Let me start with this: the Senate is now trying to sell a bill with very unpopular features but has quite a strategy to do it.
    4. The Senate health bill takes away the singular most important protection of the ACA– pre-existing condition protections.
    5. Senate bill also eliminates Med expansion, caps it, raises the cost of coverage & millions will lose it. It’s unpopular & getting worse.
    6. And the Senate, embarrassingly, exempts themselves so they alone can get essential benefits & pre-ex protections.
    7. So, all in all, they have a package of policies that are far from having support from 50 Senators. But they have a plan to get it done..
    10. The first part of the strategy is to not focus on the bill but to get past a necessary procedural vote, a Motion to Proceed. Tues/Wed.
    11. So the first part of the sales pitch is: if you don’t like it, amend it by voting for the MTP. It’s a clear trap. But an easier sale.
    12. The second part of the sales pitch is to win the Sens worried about Medicaid cuts by pitching their governors. All are in RI right now.
    13. Pence, Price and Adm. Verma are saying yes you will get less $ (poor people need to go on a diet), but you will get more flexibility.?
    14. Pitch is CMS waivers will make up 4 $800 billion in cuts. I used to run CMS. I can tell you: waivers must be budget neutral. Impossible.
    15. The next strategy is to buy every Senator possible. So a bunch of money went to Alaska already. But…
    16. The fix was supposed to even take care of a Tribal populations. But didn’t. ? Shameful & ineffective.
    17. If you don’t believe me that this Alaska buy off doesn’t jibe, listen to someone who knows.
    Tierney Sneed‏Verified account @Tierney_Megan
    Well Alaska’s top Medicaid official still hates BCRA (tho her office pointed me to the state’s Insurance Division on the Klondike Kickback)
    18. Next strategy is 2 use Cruz amendment to be all things to all people when it’s actually horrible for everyone.
    19. Some Senators are being told it’s a single risk pool cuz it’s what they want. But it’s a lie. (You’re thinking Ted Cruz? Lie? IKR?)
    20. No one understands it or can explain it. But actuaries came out & criticized it today.
    21. Somewhat amusingly, others are being told Cruz will be two risk pools because they want it to be that.
    22. Because Cruz amendment is a disaster, it provides $ to fix the disaster it creates (huh?). Only not enough.
    23. I’ve been spending the day trying to de-code the next part of the strategy. Even worse process moves. ?
    24. We already have a process with no hearings, no committee process, no aim at bi-partisanship. And now it’s going to get worse…
    25. HHS will have ASPE, their propoganda arm of late, evaluate the Cruz Amendment instead of the CBO. Yes, they can just decide to do that.
    26. In fact, the CBO report coming next week may not represent anything like what could be voted on.
    28. Bottom line time. Bad bill. Lots of micro-strategies to get votes, but none to fix the bill.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Ohio Mom:

    I just learned that my friend’s right-wing nut job of a SIL has officially given up on Trump

    I have a brother in law in California who isn’t a nutjob but was a Trump supporter. He’s a painting contractor and he’s really successful. He’s not at all “political”- I doubt he’s ever voted before.

    He gave up on Trump so fast it made me laugh- literally like a month in. He was a Trump supporter but he’s not an idiot. He saw the writing on the wall and distanced himself almost immediately. Good call, Chris! :)

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    I’m going to call King and Collins again today to say thank you for being against this death bill.

    Just to put this vote in context. LePage has vetoed Medicaid expansion probably about five times now and we have come within one or two votes needed to override his veto several times. So frustrated by the Maine Republicans on this issue, we qualified a Medicaid expansion referendum question for the November ’17 statewide ballot.

    I realize that this issue is hitting the whole country now, but Mainers have been organizing on this for years now. I think the referendum question and rural hospitals and nursing homes explains Collins’ stance on BCRAp.

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    Someone asked me if Republicans are wearing people out on Trumpcare.
    I really don’t think so…#littlelobbyists pic.twitter.com/oGQW6Rusr9
    — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 17, 2017

    I won’t stop fighting. When your child’s life is at stake, no matter how tired you are, you DO NOT STOP https://t.co/gs4br7633B
    — Natalie Weaver (@Nataliew1020) July 17, 2017

    Keep fighting against #BCRA If it doesn’t impact you now, it will impact you or someone you love later! pic.twitter.com/ytWfHdzMmb
    — Natalie Weaver (@Nataliew1020) July 13, 2017

    Senate leaders arrested us rather than hear moral critique of healthcare repeal. We’re going back 7/18. Join us. https://t.co/h0AdTcM3h9
    — Rev. Dr. Barber (@RevDrBarber) July 16, 2017

  42. 42.

    bystander

    @hueyplong: Collins does not want to become governor of a state hit hard by the opioid addiction epidemic with huge slashes to the state’s medical budget. I loathe her, but I think she’s doing the right thing, even if it’s the only thing she can do.

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    It’s not just the Russia scandal: Pence lies about health care, too
    07/17/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 07/17/17 10:11 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) could barely contain his frustration over the weekend. “[T]here is real evil in the epidemic rate of lying that is going on right now,” the Connecticut senator wrote, pointing to the latest comments from Vice President Mike Pence. “This is not normal.”

    We’ve unfortunately reached a point in contemporary politics where a quote like that, in isolation, needs some clarification – because Mike Pence says untrue things about a great many things.

    The far-right vice president, for example, has been caught making all kinds of demonstrably false claims about Donald Trump and the Russia scandal, but the latest controversy surrounds Pence’s mendacious rhetoric on health care, starting with a speech to the National Governors Association. The Washington Post reported that Pence singled out Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), arguing that Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act in the Buckeye State has caused widespread problems.

    “I know Governor Kasich isn’t with us, but I suspect that he’s very troubled to know that in Ohio alone, nearly 60,000 disabled citizens are stuck on waiting lists, leaving them without the care they need for months or even years,” said Pence.

    The waiting lists Pence referred to apply to Medicaid’s home and community-based services, and have not been affected by the program’s expansion under the ACA. States have long had waiting lists for these services, and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s executive vice president, Diane Rowland, noted that waiting lists in non-expansion states are often longer than in expansion states, which currently receive a 95 percent federal match for their newly covered beneficiaries.

    Kasich’s office explained that the vice president’s claims are “not accurate,” and are “the opposite of what actually happened.” The governor’s press secretary added, “That’s what we call #fakenews.”

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    HHS’s Tom Price wants to roll back the clock on health care
    07/17/17 10:30 AM
    By Steve Benen

    The latest iteration of the Senate Republicans’ health care plan includes a provision from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), which would do systemic harm to Americans with pre-existing conditions. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl brought up the subject yesterday with HHS Secretary Tom Price, and the Republican’s response was probably more candid than he intended.

    KARL: There’s no doubt there’s significant problems with the current system. But if you look at the Republican plan to modify it and replace it, more than 10 medical groups are against it. Thirty-two cancer organizations oppose it. And on Thursday, in a rare joint statement by the biggest insurance companies in the country, called the Cruz Amendment unworkable in any form and warned it would lead to, quote, “widespread terminations of coverage.” So, Dr. Price, why this wall of opposition?

    PRICE: It’s really perplexing, especially from the insurance companies, because all they have to do is dust off how they did business before Obamacare.

    Well, yes, I suppose that’s true, but it’s not much of a selling point. Price, a former far-right congressman before joining the Trump administration, is effectively admitting that he and other Republicans hope to turn back the clock to before the Affordable Care Act took effect.

    For Price, the solution is apparently easy: private insurers can simply “dust off” their old policies, back when Americans with pre-existing conditions were screwed.

    To a very real extent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is making the same argument as health-care advocates who oppose the GOP legislation. Patient advocates have insisted that the Republican plan in general, and the Cruz amendment in specific, would return the country to the bad ol’ days.

    To which Price effectively suggested to a national television audience yesterday, “Yep, that’s the plan.”

  45. 45.

    japa21

    One of the arguments that McConnell is using re the Medicaid cuts is that they are down the road and they will undoubtedly never happen because things will change before then. Of course, this means that those who are for the Medicaid cuts are being lied to. Or those against the Medicaid cuts are being lied to. Or all of us are being lied to. I think the last one is most accurate.

    Of course, if Mcconnell told me that, I would say, “Then don’t put them in the bill at all.”

    ETA: Based on the Twitter stream a couple comments up the thread, GOP Senators have to be some of the dumbest people on the planet if they fall for the arguments being put forward. But calling GOP Senators dumb is a bit of a redundancy.

  46. 46.

    Major Major Major Major

    @japa21:

    Based on the Twitter stream a couple comments up the thread, GOP Senators have to be some of the dumbest people on the planet if they fall for the arguments being put forward.

    Well, they are, but for most of them this is all about cover, not policy. For people like Murkowski, I guess they must be idiots.

  47. 47.

    japa21

    @rikyrah: I disagree slightly. The current plans go way beyond what was before the ACA. The situation would be even worse than what it was before the ACA. And one of the arguments that the GOP has been making is that of course there was a need for improvements but the ACA was not the way to make those changes. Now Price says there was no need to make changes.

  48. 48.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: I am trying to keep my blood pressure in line and so not respond to all of the outrage and idiocy being spewed, but seriously, HEALTH CARE IS EXPENSIVE. it’s expensive for employers (that’s why they arbitrage to hire contract or less than full-time labor even when they do provide employee health coverage) and it’s basically unattainable for most individuals whose coverage isn’t subsidized by someone, and ALL COVERAGE EVEN EMPLOYER PROVIDED COVERAGE is subsidized by the U.S. government. If we don’t want the availability of health care in the U.S. to be conducted like a game of hot potato or musical chairs, we have to address costs by some other means than throwing the unluckiest least vocal segments of society out on their collective ears. Montana, be brave — take your 80,000 Medicaid recipients and go to hospitals and other providers and ask to see their books and why they charge SO MUCH GODDAMNED MONEY for things that are half or less in competitive markets or foreign countries.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @Nora:

    One week? Really? After a craniotomy and brain surgery? At his age? Someone is engaging in wishful thinking, I believe.

    McCain is, what, 81? But on his mother’s side, he comes from a very long-lived family. His mother, Roberta, is 105, and had a twin sister who died at age 99.

  50. 50.

    nightranger

    I don’t understand what you people think you are accomplishing here. Doing this “call your senator” business over and over doesn’t work. It might have a slight effect at first, slight. To keep doing it is probably accomplishing absolutely nothing at this point. Most people probably stopped calling and most senators probably started ignoring the calls weeks ago.

    The time to be doing something was during the election. It’s too late now to try retroactively walk back the consequences of the election. The cancervatives are going to push through some pile of excrement no matter how may calls you make.

    You are not going to kill it. You are not going to delay it for very long. You are not going to water it down any more than it would have been had you did nothing at all.

  54. 54.

    nightranger

    @Mnemosyne: So you don’t like what I have to say which makes me a troll? Also, you apparently have no clue how the internet works.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    PRICE: It’s really perplexing, especially from the insurance companies, because all they have to do is dust off how they did business before Obamacare.

    People should post this to their Trump loving FaceBook buddies. “Repeal and replace” with something better is a stupid lie for the GOP intention to return to the status quo.

    The crazy thing is the insurance industry opposition. You would think that the Republicans would at least know what this special interest group wants and would craft legislation that would cater to them. Instead they seem to be intent on cobbling together a bill that no one wants that makes things worse instead of addressing any political or economic issue.

    This is madness.

  57. 57.

    Barbara

    @nightranger:

    I don’t understand what you people think you are accomplishing here.

    Well, then feel free to move right along until you find something at your low level of comprehension.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    @japa21:

    We were mostly visiting family, so it wasn’t entirely “fun.” ? But I did get to go to the Field Museum and tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, so we had a little time for fun stuff.

    And my mom decided she wanted to see Despicable Me 3, so we did that. Our verdict: not enough Minions, but mildly entertaining.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @Barbara:

    It’s pathetic long-term troll Unlimited Corporate Cash busting through his ban again. He apparently doesn’t have any friends or family IRL, so his only option for social interaction is to come here and be a dick to people.

  60. 60.

    H.E.Wolf

    I am very grateful to the commenter who mentioned Fax Zero: 5 free faxes per day, to a Senator (or other elected official) of your choice. This is a great way to sidestep the busied-out, filled-voicemail, area-code-curated phone lines in Republican offices.

    I also called/emailed my state’s Democratic Party headquarters, using John Cole levels of persistence, until I reached someone who added me to the volunteer corps. They have tasks suitable for introverts! I’m in… and I’m bringing my friends.

    Introverts. We get the job done. /hamilton

  62. 62.

    catclub

    Democrats won’t give a courtesy vote match (ie one Democrat not voting to match McCain)

    I suggested that three GOP abstentions and one GOP NO vote put the count at 48-48 and then Pence breaks the tie? – and someone said this cannot happen because of rules. Does anyone know what/where those rules are? Is this another case of the Senate rules being magnificently stupid/ biased towards gridlock?

    Also from response #1, I agree that only a week to recover from craniotomy, when 80+ years old, is optimistic.
    OTOH, the surgery is unlikely to affect McCains mental accuity.

  64. 64.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @nightranger:

    You are not going to kill it. You are not going to delay it for very long. You are not going to water it down any more than it would have been had you did nothing at all.

    We may not kill it, but the assholes passing this piece of shit genocidal excuse of a bill are certainly mortal

  65. 65.

    catclub

    @Frankensteinbeck: ah. Thanks. So it is the same/similar Senate rules that demand 60 votes to break a filibuster even if there are only 90 members voting that day. 59-31 would not break it.

  67. 67.

    Shell

    I dont quite understand the delay. Unless they think his vote isn’t set in stone, couldn’t McCain appoint a proxy?

  69. 69.

    TenguPhule

    @Nora:

    One week? Really? After a craniotomy and brain surgery? At his age? Someone is engaging in wishful thinking, I believe.

    But with so much empty space up there, what could they possibly have damaged that would require more time to heal?

  70. 70.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    He gave up on Trump so fast it made me laugh- literally like a month in. He was a Trump supporter but he’s not an idiot.

    That will not save him when the Trump supporters have to do hard unpaid labor as penance.

    He voted…..poorly. And there are consequences that must be faced.

  71. 71.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: This is a lie. The current bill that for procedural and public perception purposes would require insurers to sell without preexisting conditions, something they didn’t used to do, but it will allow premiums to float and won’t mandate healthy people to participate. Insurers have never done business this way. He is such an ass he might not even realize this, but my money is on prevarication.

  73. 73.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: My disabled kid is on one of those Medicaid waiting lists for community-based services. He’s been on it for, I dunno, 14 years now? I lost count. He’ll be moved to the front of the line after his dad and I are too feeble to take care of him ourselves, or dead, whichever comes first.

    These Waivers, as they are called, pay for group homes, day programs, adaptive equipment, home nursing, personal assistants, transportation, respite for family caretakers…it’s a long list, depending on what specific supports you need in order to live and thrive in the larger community (vs. an institution, nursing home, or other isolated setting).

    For one example, without community-based services, you could have a physically-disabled attorney stuck in a nursing home, unable to practice law and pay taxes. For another example, families might have to institutionalize their kids, rather than raise them at home.

    Waivers that pay for community-based services are a critical lifeline, and there is never enough funding.

    But the executive summary is that main hold-up has always been REPUBLICANS not increasing the state’s allocation — if they did, the Fed match would kick in.

    The Republicans in my county have refused to let the Developmental Disabilities Board increase its levy for over ten years now — that is not helping the waiting list!

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    The Republicans in my county have refused to let the Developmental Disabilities Board increase its levy for over ten years now — that is not helping the waiting list!

    they are. just plain ROTTEN

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