Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

“But what about the lurkers?”

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Second rate reporter says what?

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

We will not go back.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

“woke” is the new caravan.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / Call the Senate

Call the Senate

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Keep on banging the drum today on Cassidy-Graham.

Reward good behavior with praise and let everyone who has not announced a firm yes that there is a way for praise.

Keep on banging the drum.

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  3. 3.

    Patricia Kayden

    My Senators are Democrats so they’re good. It’s a shame that we have to go through this nonsense but for those of you with Republican Senators, do your duty and call their offices. I’m exhausted from all this winning.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    I sent my people (Kaine, Warner, Beyer) letters last night.

    Along with fighting against this, we need to do all we can to vote them out of office.

    NationalVoterRegistrationDay is September 26. Do what you can to help get the word out, and help all the groups helping to get the word out and get more people registered.

    WHTFTESD.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  8. 8.

    Kay

    I’ll call portman.

    I went to an event for Ohio gov candidate at the home of the CEO of the local hospital. They need the Medicaid expansion. I feel like dropping his name when I call Portman but at the same time I don’t want to “out” him for supporting a Dem for governor.

  9. 9.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I was reminded last night that the reason they have to do this is that they want to pass tax relief for the 1% and this is the only way they can get the money for that.

  10. 10.

    Weaselone

    Wouldn’t the easier path be just to render Graham so toxic no Republican would sign on to something with his name on it? Why do we fight these battles like we’re trying to convince Democrats and Dem politicians to oppose the legislation instead of taking a page from Russia and tossing our own vomit into the right wing puke funnel?

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    Another hint from yesterday:

    MomSense says:
    September 18, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Text “resist” to 504-09 and in about a minute you will be able to fax your Rep, Senators, and Governor. There is an option to send a letter and I read on twitter that @resistbot is amassing a huge team of volunteers to deliver the letters.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    On a less noticed note Daily Kos reports Wave good-bye to your pre-existing condition protections under new Trumpcare bill

    Specifically, a little-noticed provision of the block grant funding states would receive under the plan would let them obtain waivers of ACA pre-existing conditions protections and benefit standards for any insurance plan subsidized by block grant funding. For example, a state that used a small portion of its block grant funding to provide even tiny subsidies to all individual market plans could then waive these protections for its entire individual market. Likewise, states that used block grant funding to offer or subsidize coverage for low-income people could offer plans with large gaps in benefits. States seeking waivers would have to explain how they “intend” to maintain access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, but they wouldn’t have to prove that their waivers would actually do so.

    dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/18/1698925/-Wave-good-bye-to-your-pre-existing-condition-protections-und…

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: Yeah, but if I change it I’ll have to make the initialism more complex.

    WHTFTETESD – We have to fight the evil Teabaggers every single day.

    But that invites the question – are there any non-evil Teabaggers??

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I was reminded last night that the reason they have to do this is that they want to pass tax relief for the 1% and this is the only way they can get the money for that.

    ALL versions of Trumpcare are nothing but TAX CUT BILLS masquerading as Healthcare bills.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I was reminded last night that the reason they have to do this is that they want to pass tax relief for the 1% and this is the only way they can get the money for that.

    That’s what’s beautiful about it though. They’d trade their own grandmothers for those tax cuts. Trump has to deliver.

    Kill one, wound another. It’s very efficient.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    I’m with Kay: Rand Paul is a phucking fraud.

    …………………

    Rand Paul creates a problem for Senate GOP on health care
    09/19/17 08:41 AM
    By Steve Benen
    The arithmetic for health care advocates is pretty simple: sometime over the next 12 days, Senate Republicans are going to try to pass yet another overhaul of the American health care system. If three or more GOP senators break ranks, the bill will fail. If not, it’ll pass and probably become law.

    Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) keeps insisting he’s one of the three “no” votes, but no one’s sure whether to believe him.

    The Kentucky senator first announced his opposition to the plan eight days ago, though many assumed he was just posturing. The Republican started putting his position in writing, and still, few believed he was sincere. Rand Paul went on Fox News to explain that he really does oppose the Graham-Cassidy plan, and again, much of the political world thought he didn’t mean it.

    So yesterday afternoon, the Kentucky Republican hosted a press briefing of sorts in order to say he’s quite serious about his rejection of the legislation. Vox explained:

    On Monday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voiced clear and staunch opposition to the Cassidy-Graham-Heller-Johnson proposal – the last remaining Obamacare repeal plan that would block-grant Obamacare funding, cap federal health care spending, and send the money to the states to come up with their own health care programs.

    “It keeps 90 percent of Obamacare and redistributes the proceeds,” Paul said in a meeting with reporters in his office Monday. He continued: “I don’t think anybody has realized the enormity of this. Obamacare took a long time to get in place. It took them a year to get their website. Can you imagine now every state has got to go through this? Start completely over with all the subsidies. Some states might want subsidies, some won’t, some states might go to single-payer. I think it will be a chaotic nature for two years. It’s not repeal. It’s another incarnation of Republican replace. But not repeal.”

  20. 20.

    rikyrah

    Under this bill, people with metastatic cancer will pay $142,650 more a year to get coverage.
    That is not reform. That is a death sentence. t.co/XN3mVv0F2t
    — Eric Schneiderman (@AGSchneiderman) September 18, 2017

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    Repeal crusade puts John McCain’s principles to the test
    09/19/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    In late July, in the wake of a scary cancer diagnosis, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered stirring remarks on the Senate floor, making the case that his party was pursuing an overhaul of the nation’s health care system the wrong way. Republican leaders blew off his concerns and assumed the Arizonan would toe the party line.

    He didn’t. McCain joined a bipartisan group of senators and derailed the GOP repeal crusade.

    In the days and weeks that followed, when McCain wasn’t receiving cancer treatment, he was laying out his legislative principles with passion and depth. The veteran lawmaker hasn’t just casually expressed procedural preferences; McCain made a commitment to the kind of policymaking he wants to see in the United States.

    The senator has done so repeatedly, in op-eds, in interviews, and in speeches. Just 12 days ago, McCain said in a statement that any legislative endeavor such as health care reform “must” – not “should,” not “it’d be nice,” but “must” – follow regular order.

    And now we’re going to find out if he meant it. The New York Times’ David Leonhardt explained this morning:

    The latest Trumpcare, known as Graham-Cassidy, risks the Senate’s credibility again. There has been none of the regular process that McCain demanded, not even a Congressional Budget Office analysis. No major medical group – not doctors, nurses, hospitals or advocates for the treatment of cancer, diabetes or birth defects – supports the bill.

    Passing it would violate every standard that McCain laid down…. There is reason to believe McCain will stand firm, starting with his sense of personal honor.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Quick Takes: Another Unprecedented Attempt to Repeal Obamacare
    A roundup of news that caught my eye today.

    by Nancy LeTourneau
    September 18, 2017

    * There are a few words that seem inadequate to capture some of the political extremes we are witnessing these days. For example, when it comes to people like Trump and McConnell, “hypocrisy” doesn’t come close capturing the extent to which they’re willing to hold themselves to a completely different standard than they do their opponents. Another word that is feeling pretty inadequate lately is “unprecedented.” For example:

    In order to get the bill through, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intends to cut off all debate, prevent any amendments, and refuse any discussion. It’s a combination that has never been used before. It’s a genuinely unprecedented shutdown of the Senate. For anyone who claimed to be concerned over the way previous Republican bills were pushed, it might seem that this institution-flattening excercise in power would be a deal-breaker … or maybe not.

    In addition to a process that’s ripping up the Senate rules, there have been no public hearings. There is no CBO score. The total amount of discussion will be limited to two minutes, with no amendments, no other votes.

    * It’s not hard to guess why Republicans are attracted to this particular effort to repeal Obamacare.

    Under the current proposal, federal healthcare funding in California would drop by $57,547 per person. New Yorkers would see a loss of $33,058. No other state even comes close. For many red states like Wyoming and South Dakota, the bill is a wash, dropping funding less than $1,000 over a decade. The formula has been deliberately crafted to punish states that vote for Democrats while protecting those that vote for Republicans. The effect could not be more brazen if they simply announced it.

  25. 25.

    Ohio Mom

    Called all of Portman’s offices and surprise of surprise, someone answered the phone at the Cincinnati office. That’s the first time in this go-round. I’d begun to wonder if all the local interns had left to go back to school.

    Some of the offices had their answering machines on but I did get interns in three of the offices, and they were remarkably alike in their complete lack of affect, they were robotic in tone. Some days I annoy them and they get defensive but not today.

    Raised my suspicions that maybe it is true, Republicans are not human.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    Health coverage for all is fundamentally about equalizing freedom. W/o it, your opportunities & capabilities are restricted.
    — Indivar Dutta-Gupta (@IndivarD) September 19, 2017

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    On health care, Republicans are prepared to govern in the dark
    09/19/17 09:20 AM—UPDATED 09/19/17 09:37 AM
    By Steve Benen

    The series of events is familiar to anyone who cares about health care: Republicans unveil a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act; partisans on the right get excited; health care advocates start to panic; the media notes that the bill has momentum; and then the Congressional Budget Office pours a bucket of reality on the whole endeavor.

    This time, however, will be a little different. GOP senators are moving forward with Graham-Cassidy – arguably their worst repeal proposal to date – but data from the Congressional Budget Office won’t save the day this time. The Washington Post reported:

    Congress’s nonpartisan budget analyst said it is working to provide a “preliminary assessment” of the latest Republican health-care bill by early next week but will not estimate how the measure would affect health insurance premiums or the number of people with medical coverage until later.

    The notice Monday from the Congressional Budget Office angered Democrats, who planned to use the complete figures to hammer the Graham-Cassidy legislation, which is picking up steam in the Senate ahead of a possible vote within two weeks.

    As the New York Times added, under the budget reconciliation process – the process that allows Republicans to advance their bill with 50 votes instead of 60 – the legislation will need some kind of cost estimate from the CBO. The budget office intends to comply “early next week,” just days before the Senate’s health care deadline, with some kind of data.

    But unlike the other recent health care fights, this CBO “score” won’t say how many Americans will lose coverage under Graham-Cassidy or how much the bill will hurt consumers trying to buy coverage.

    To be sure, the CBO could provide senators with those figures, but the data won’t be available before the Senate’s Sept. 30 deadline. And that leaves Republican leaders with a choice between governing responsibly, with a full understanding of their bill’s consequences, or legislating in the dark.

    Take a wild guess which approach the GOP is prepared to embrace.

  31. 31.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: I agree that Rand Paul is a fraud, but that does not mean he will cave on this bill and support it.
    He may be protecting Kentucky’s medicaid expansion and working individual market under the ACA.

    I was surprised to see that Heritage Action OPPOSES the bill because it does not cut enough taxes.

  32. 32.

    catclub

    @Kay: @Cheryl Rofer:

    Except Heritage Action is AGAINST this bill because it does not cut taxes enough.

    OTOH: I have seen no senators of the far right come out and say they agree with HA and will oppose the bill – so maybe it is more charades.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    My governor is beyond hope and completely irrational. The only thing going for us is that Collins may run for governor so she has to be aware of how badly this would screw her if she had to manage the state budget post Graham Cassidy.

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    Say it with me boys and girls…

    THIS IS NOT A HEALTHCARE BILL
    HEALTHCARE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
    THIS IS A TAX CUT BILL.

    Republicans take aim at their own constituents’ health care
    09/19/17 11:21 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Yesterday morning, many involved in the health care debate were keeping an eye on Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R). The thinking was, if the Republican governor balked at the Graham-Cassidy health care plan pending in the Senate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would use Ducey’s opposition as reason to reject the bill, which would likely kill it.

    Some health care advocates were cautiously optimistic: independent analyses showed that Arizona would be punished more than most states by the Republican health care overhaul, so it stood to reason that Ducey would announce his opposition to the legislation – if for no other reason, because it would hurt the interests of his own constituents.

    As it turned out, however, it didn’t matter. The Arizona governor formally endorsed the plan anyway, making it a bit more likely that McCain will do the same.

    It’s all quite counter-intuitive. Ordinarily, explaining to policymakers that their own states would suffer as a result of a proposal is usually a powerful argument, since elected officials are supposed to be reluctant to undermine the interests of the voters who put them in office. But when it comes to health care, and the Graham-Cassidy bill in particular, this doesn’t seem to matter as much as it should.

    The latest Senate Obamacare repeal bill would “uniquely” and “disproportionately” hurt a key sponsor’s home state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

    Louisiana Health Secretary Rebekah Gee wrote a letter Monday to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to share her “deep concerns” with the repeal and replace bill that he’s helped to craft…. As Senate Republicans jockey to get 50 votes to support the bill, Gee warned Cassidy that his plan to cut Medicaid expansion would jeopardize coverage for 433,000 Louisiana residents, a move that would be a “detrimental step backwards for Louisiana.”

    What’s more, Cassidy isn’t alone on this front.

    There are four main co-sponsors of the current GOP plan, and while Cassidy’s constituents would certainly take a severe hit as a result of his own legislation, the same is true of Sen. Dean Heller (R) of Nevada, another member of the quartet. Vox noted yesterday that Nevada, one of 31 states to embrace Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act, also stands to lose millions if Heller’s bill becomes law.

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