After midnight on the East Coast, Republicans in the Senate continued to struggle to put together a vote in favor of so-called &#8220;skinny repeal,&#8221; a bill promising light changes to Obamacare. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/skinny-repeal-isnt-just-a-bad-bill-its-an-insult/article/2629958">Philip Klein at the Washington Examiner</a> has a good breakdown:
<blockquote>
The only thing that&#8217;s repealed are the penalties for the individual mandate (the mandate itself could not be repealed due to the restrictions imposed by the reconciliation process). Though news reports had suggested that they would also be repealing the employer mandate and the medical device tax, in reality, the tax would only be suspended for three years, and the employer mandate penalties would go to zero at first, but would come back in 2025&#8230; Taken together, as conservative health policy analyst Chris Jacobs has <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/chart-skinny-repeal-would-keep-411-of-obamacares-419-sections-intact/article/2629957" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">illustrated</a>, the bill would keep 411 of Obamacare&#8217;s 419 sections of legislative text intact.
</blockquote>
Senate Republicans were being urged to vote for the bill, even though it would essentially exacerbate the individual market death spiral, necessitating a bailout in the near future. That&#8217;s because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attempted to get a promise from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to completely re-do the &#8220;skinny repeal&#8221; and the House&#8217;s Better Care Reconciliation Act in conference committee, creating a new bill. Ryan, however, didn&#8217;t make a clear promise not to simply pass the &#8220;skinny repeal&#8221; and call it a day.
As the conference continued deep into the night, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) gradually moved into Democratic camp, hanging out with Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA). And indeed, along with Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (D-AK), McCain voted no.
This is a major defeat for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who after 7 years of promises wasn&#8217;t even able to get small changes to Obamacare past his caucus. It&#8217;s also a major defeat for President Trump, who wanted a major bill he could call his own, especially given the similarly uphill battle of crafting and passing a tax reform bill.
On the other hand, it also means that Republicans won&#8217;t pass an unworkable bill in the dead of night, call it a repeal, and then own the fallout &#8211; a fallout which would likely necessitate massive bailouts to insurance companies, given the reality of the pusillanimous moderate Senate Republicans. And this won&#8217;t be the last attempt to repeal Obamacare; as things get worse, calls for a Republican fix will grow louder.
Democrats are celebrating this evening because Obamacare has been preserved intact. But they won&#8217;t be celebrating for long as the death spiral continues and prices continue to rise. The only question is whether the public will hang Obamacare&#8217;s failures on its creators or on the Republicans who were unable to change it with a majority in both houses as well as the presidency come 2018.

BREAKING: McCain Strangles ‘Skinny Repeal’ Of Obamacare, McConnell Passes NOTHING

Donald Trump

John McCain

Obamacare

Trumpcare

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Alaska&#8217;s two senators &#8212; both Republicans &#8212; to express the Trump administration&#8217;s displeasure with Sen. Lisa Murkowski&#8217;s (R-AK) vote against debating the Republicans&#8217; ostensible moves to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA/&#8221;Obamacare&#8221;).
Alaska Dispatch News wrote:
<blockquote>
Early Wednesday, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890168183079960576">Trump took to Twitter</a> to express displeasure with Murkowski&#8217;s vote. By that afternoon, each of Alaska&#8217;s two Republican senators had received a phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke letting them know the vote had put Alaska&#8217;s future with the administration in jeopardy.
</blockquote>
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) described Zinke&#8217;s call as carrying a &#8220;troubling message&#8221;:
<blockquote>
I&#8217;m not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop.
I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans. &#8230; We&#8217;re facing some difficult times and there&#8217;s a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear.
</blockquote>
President Trump expressed displeasure with Murkowski&#8217;s no vote via Twitter on Wednesday:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Senator <a href="https://twitter.com/lisamurkowski">@lisamurkowski</a> of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890168183079960576">July 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Murkowski described her no vote against continuing deliberations on repealing or changing the ACA as serving &#8220;Alaska&#8217;s best interest&#8221;:
<blockquote>
I base my votes on what I believe is in Alaska&#8217;s best interest. So I know that there are those who wish that I would be more in line with following the party platform, but I don&#8217;t think it should come as any surprise that there have been occasions that I have not followed the lead of the party.
</blockquote>
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.

Trump Threatens State Of Alaska To Pressure Senator Murkowski On Trumpcare

Alaska

American Health Care Act (AHCA)

Health Care

Trump Administration

With Senator John McCain&#8217;s vote today to allow debate over amendments to the Senate health care bill, a move which might foretell a repeal of Obamacare, the well-wishes of leftists everywhere filled Twitter, as they wished for the man who just revealed he is suffering from brain cancer to just die already:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
100 million of us could all wish McCain would drop dead at once and it would be less cruel and have less impact than his vote.
&#8212; Luke O&#8217;Neil (@lukeoneil47) <a href="https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/889936648317882370">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Oh how sad to know that the hero that was once John McCain is already dead. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash">#RIP</a>
&#8212; Kirti Patel, MD (@kirtipatelmd) <a href="https://twitter.com/kirtipatelmd/status/889938938726686720">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
John McCain should&#8217;ve died in a POW camp
&#8212; XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (@dead_pets) <a href="https://twitter.com/dead_pets/status/889958094742179840">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8220;John McCain&#8221; I want to be able to honor McCain with what he&#8217;s going through. But after today, hope he takes his own insurance &amp; drops dead
&#8212; Mr.Rimbaud (@LuckyBoulevard) <a href="https://twitter.com/LuckyBoulevard/status/889957905260318720">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I&#8217;m not saying I wish John McCain was dead, I agree that would be tasteless. I do, however, wish he wasn&#8217;t alive anymore.
&#8212; Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel) <a href="https://twitter.com/atebbel/status/889926352832528384">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
what if McCain dropped dead in the senate like the dog he is? would God smile? would I know peace? yes
&#8212; Drone Chomsky (@mmalloyboy) <a href="https://twitter.com/mmalloyboy/status/889926296469372928">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I want McCain to drop dead on the Senate floor right now. I hope he suffers.
&#8212; LiarLyre (@liarlyreSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/liarlyreSA/status/889925881610854400">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
At least we can all take solace in the fact that John McCain will soon be dead
&#8212; Brendan (@MachoNonreal) <a href="https://twitter.com/MachoNonreal/status/889924881965559809">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I hope the effort involved in coming to DC to destroy healthcare makes McCain drop dead.
&#8212; Mark A. Sargent (@AuthorSargent) <a href="https://twitter.com/AuthorSargent/status/889923929405624320">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Leftists consistently protest that a repeal of Obamacare will leave people to die. If hard-core leftists had their way, all those supposed victims would be John McCain. 
It&#8217;s unlikely that the same man who was tortured by the Viet Cong for five years has one ounce of apprehension over insults from lunatics like them.

AWFUL: 9 Leftists Who Wished For McCain’s Death After He Voted To Advance Trumpcare

The high stakes effort by Senate Republicans to pass an Obamacare repeal and replacement bill is coming to a head, and the beleaguered GOP needs all the help it can get. Holding a slim 52 to 48 majority in the Senate and facing a unified Democratic Party against dismantling Barack Obama&#8217;s &#8220;signature legislative achievement,&#8221; Republicans can&#8217;t afford to lose more than two votes, so all the key players on the right are ramping up the pressure to get this thing done. 
Last week, Arizona Sen. John McCain revealed the heartbreaking news that he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, but he and his family made clear that he would not let this latest adversity slow him down. Less than a week later, the salty 80-year-old senator &#8212; a Vietnam war hero who survived captivity as a POW for five years under brutal circumstances &#8212; is back in D.C. ready to vote on the repeal and replacement bill. President Trump, who has been increasingly more vocal on the urgency of the vote, celebrated the news of McCain&#8217;s return. 
On Monday night, McCain&#8217;s office issued a statement announcing that the Senator was returning to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
&#8220;Senator McCain looks forward to returning to the United States Senate tomorrow to continue working on important legislation, including health care reform, the National Defense Authorization Act, and new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea,&#8221; McCain&#8217;s office announced. 
As <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/*/Article_2017-07-25-US--Congress-Health%20Overhaul/id-6fc0d838aafc4ec5ac3ac5a666a93f7d">AP</a> notes, it&#8217;s unlikely that Republicans would ask the ailing Senator to fly from Arizona if they didn&#8217;t believe his vote would &#8220;make a difference,&#8221; and &#8220;his mere presence could make it harder for wavering Republicans to cast a vote against even considering the bill.&#8221;
President Trump cheered the news on Twitter, writing, &#8220;So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave &#8211; American hero! Thank you John.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave &#8211; American hero! Thank you John.
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889798407228989441">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Meanwhile, the president is turning the screws on those &#8220;wavering Republicans.&#8221; 
&#8220;Over and over again, [Republicans] said, &#8216;Repeal and replace, repeal and replace.&#8217; But they can now keep their promise,&#8221; Trump said Monday from the White House.
&#8220;After 7 years of talking, we will soon see whether or not Republicans are willing to step up to the plate!&#8221; Trump tweeted. &#8220;ObamaCare is torturing the American People. The Democrats have fooled the people long enough. Repeal or Repeal &amp; Replace! I have pen in hand.&#8221;
The vote on the &#8220;Trumpcare&#8221; bill has already been postponed once, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling it off in part because of McCain&#8217;s health issue that led to the tragic cancer diagnosis, but also because of the continued pushback from several Republicans. The Senate bill is a revision of the House bill, which was passed in May amid similar division among Republicans. Conservative Republicans maintain that the Senate bill simply does not repeal enough of Obamacare, while more centrist Republicans fear that it will result in fewer Americans covered. 
Should the Republicans manage to get only 50 votes in favor, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote.

Obamacare Repeal Showdown: McCain Returns, Trump Cranks Up The Pressure

Cancer

U.S. Senate

Until now, I haven&#8217;t been too concerned about the Republican Party&#8217;s difficulties in passing a health care reform bill because delays have resulted in improvements to the proposed legislation. But enough is enough. No more games.
It&#8217;s time to quit the finger-pointing. Neither congressional leaders nor President Trump have done enough to whip votes and sell the bill.
A major overhaul of Obamacare, whether a full repeal, or a repeal and replacement, is imperative for Trump and congressional Republicans. More than any other, Obamacare is the issue that has galvanized grass-roots conservatives since 2010, and the Republicans&#8217; failure to act now will be devastating on multiple levels.
Excuses like &#8220;we had a few renegade senators on the left and the right&#8221; won&#8217;t work. Then-President Obama had no problem getting a majority to support Obamacare and was even able, albeit through deceit and legislative bribery, to cobble together a filibuster-proof margin.
So why can&#8217;t Republicans get their act together? The differences are that Obama wanted this more than anything else and thus almost willed it into existence, and Democrats are far more monolithic than Republicans and stick together. Republicans must show the same fierce determination Obama showed when he crammed his monstrosity down our throats.
This requires a concerted team effort. President Trump must focus far more attention on this than he has, and his meetings with Senate Republicans this week were a good start. For now, congressional Republicans must also make this their highest priority. Once the bill passes, Trump and Republican legislators must move on to tax reform with the same unified focus and determination.
Like never before, Trump must use the full extent of his political capital to sell the public on this bill and pressure recalcitrant legislators. He should hold major rallies in the states whose senators are balking, and give substantive speeches on what is at stake and why this bill is the lynchpin to reversing Obama&#8217;s agenda. For their part, congressional Republicans need to be all over television and flood print media with op-eds pushing this bill.
Both Trump and GOP legislators must detail how Obamacare is failing and underscore the failed promises Obama made to advance this bill. In the process, they must change the narrative to distinguish between health care insurance (a term that has been bastardized, anyway) and affordable, quality health care with maximum consumer choices. For far too long, Democrats have corrupted the national conversation by fearmongering and distorting the English language.
I don&#8217;t deny that the current version of the Senate bill is far from ideal from a conservative point of view, but it is far better than it was before, and it is light-years better than the status quo. I confess that I have been torn on supporting measures that many believe are Obamacare Lite, but in the end, we have to do the best we can do and go forward. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I think we have a far better chance of passing a so-called repeal-and-replace bill, which could be more accurately described as a partial repeal and replacement than a full-blown repeal. Either way, one must occur without further delay.
Many pundits assume that if left alone, Obamacare will continue to unravel and disintegrate, but another school of thought says that it has already sustained the worst and will survive. I don&#8217;t know about you, but I would never want to bet against the survival of any government entitlement program. Legislators will always figure out a way to bail it out, or, if it is beyond all repair, they might just take the easy route and opt for a single-payer system, which was Obama&#8217;s plan all along. That&#8217;s the worst of all worlds.
Even if Obamacare&#8217;s ultimate failure were inevitable, Republicans can&#8217;t sit on their hands and watch it die in slow motion. Far too many people will be hurt, which is unacceptable.
Moreover, though many Republicans assume that Obamacare&#8217;s final implosion would mostly redound to the Democrats&#8217; detriment, it is hard to see that considering they would be the ones in power during the implosion. Don&#8217;t ever underestimate the formidability of the media-enabled Democratic propaganda machine.
If Republicans don&#8217;t get their act together now, they may not ever get another chance to prevent socialized medicine in this country. We&#8217;ll never have a better chance to make market-based health care reforms if we don&#8217;t pass the best bill possible now, for at least two reasons: First, Republicans will be punished for incompetence and betrayal in the next election. And second, there will be a point beyond which market reforms can&#8217;t feasibly be made.
But if Republicans move this bill through, there&#8217;s a good chance they can continue to improve it incrementally &#8212; especially if the changes in the current bill yield demonstrable results.
The proposed Senate bill is far from perfect, but we&#8217;re fantasizing if we think we&#8217;re going to get anything close to perfect at this point. Sen. Ted Cruz apparently finds the bill acceptable, and, for now, all things considered, that&#8217;s good enough for me.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is &#8220;The True Jesus: Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in the Gospels.&#8221; Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2017 CREATORS.COM

LIMBAUGH: OK, GOP: No More Excuses!

Conservatism

Democratic Party

Republican Party

Ted Cruz

According to a new <a href="https://apnews.com/658e976fca5e40fe8260cbcc4ae1e865/AP-NORC-Poll:-Most-say-feds-should-ensure-health-coverage?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP">Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll</a>, nearly two-thirds of Americans &#8212; 62% &#8212; think the federal government must ensure that &#8220;all Americans have health care coverage&#8221;; just 37% disagree. That&#8217;s a massive shift from even March, when the same poll found just 52% of Americans stating that the feds had to ensure health care coverage, with 47% disagreeing.
The stunning new number includes &#8220;3 in 10 Republicans.&#8221; Furthermore, the poll surveyed particular thoughts on proposed Republican measures to free up the health care market: 73% opposed letting insurers set rates based on health condition, 57% opposed letting states do away with &#8220;essential benefits,&#8221; 78% opposed relieving regulations on insurers forcing them to subsidize older Americans&#8217; health care coverage.
Now, it&#8217;s fair to question whether this poll actually matters &#8212; whether Americans actually understand what they&#8217;re being asked. Most polls that ask Americans whether they want to cut specific services receive the preferred Leftist answer. But it&#8217;s disquieting that opinions have shifted so radically on the role of government in health care.
That&#8217;s not all attributable to Obamacare, either. It&#8217;s thanks to the Republican failure to even make the case for free markets. President Trump himself would presumably agree that it is the government&#8217;s job to ensure that everyone has health care &#8212; he said so openly and repeatedly during the election cycle and beyond. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to have insurance for everybody,&#8221; Trump said in January. &#8220;There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can&#8217;t pay for it, you don&#8217;t get it. That&#8217;s not going to happen with us.&#8221;
Americans have been trained by both parties to think of health care as a right rather than a commodity &#8212; and that&#8217;s why the Republican health care plan is so radically unpopular. If something is a right, you&#8217;re owed it. If you&#8217;re owed it, it&#8217;s immoral for someone to charge you more for the fulfillment of that right based on a factor you can&#8217;t control.
Republicans lost the issue when they failed to even engage in the argument. And they&#8217;ll continue struggling against a political reality of their own making so long as they run from that argument, desperate to end-around the Bernie Sanders Medicare-for-all position.

Poll: Vast Majority Of Americans Think Government Has To Ensure Universal Health Insurance

Bernie Sanders

On the day after the stunning collapse of the Senate&#8217;s Obamacare replacement bill, some Republican commentators are throwing shade at Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY). See, for example, MSNBC&#8217;s and Salem Radio&#8217;s Hugh Hewitt:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Look. <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee">@SenMikeLee</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul">@RandPaul</a> saved Obamacare. That simple. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeePaulCare?src=hash">#LeePaulCare</a> <a href="https://t.co/hOxGiezCwY">https://t.co/hOxGiezCwY</a>
&#8212; Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) <a href="https://twitter.com/hughhewitt/status/887666750464024577">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Talk radio host Mike Gallagher did the same. So did Fox News&#8217; Brit Hume:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Mike Lee now says he&#8217;ll vote no on the Senate GOP Healthcare bill, joining Rand Paul in in acting to let Obamacare stand.
&#8212; Brit Hume (@brithume) <a href="https://twitter.com/brithume/status/887113985631420417">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
But here is the fact: the Senate health care bill did not repeal Obamacare. Obamacare was never in danger. It still isn&#8217;t. Its key regulations remain, and few Republicans were willing to vote to remove them. Yes, the Senate health care bill did some good things: it restructured Medicaid grants, for example, and it cut some of Obamacare&#8217;s taxes while leaving others. But some of the elements of the bill that would be wins in a vacuum actually undercut the health care market in others: in a normal world, removing the individual mandate would be a good thing, but the bill replaced the individual mandate with a back-door mandate that actually makes the funding mechanism for insurance companies weaker, requiring permanent subsidization of those insurance companies.
There&#8217;s a case to be made that the bill should have been passed for what it was &#8212; a revision to Obamacare that could have alleviated some of Obamacare&#8217;s worst features. But to claim that Lee and Paul &#8220;saved Obamacare&#8221; is ridiculous. President Trump was never willing to fully repeal Obamacare &#8212; and talk today about Senate Republicans passing a repeal still aren&#8217;t, since even the 2015 Republican repeal bill didn&#8217;t actually repeal the central Obamacare regulations.
Which means that the talk about repealing Obamacare is just another ruse, an attempt to lie to conservative voters about what our elected representatives are doing, and castigate conservatives for refusing to lie. If Republicans had billed this all along as an Obamacare &#8220;fix,&#8221; they&#8217;d have been more accurate, and they&#8217;d earn more conservative support. But peeing on our leg, telling us it&#8217;s raining, and then blaming us for objecting to the stench of urine isn&#8217;t a great legislative strategy.

Stop Blaming Mike Lee And Rand Paul For ‘Saving Obamacare.’ That’s Dishonest.

Monday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell (R-KY) threw in the towel on the Senate&#8217;s version of the Obamacare repeal and replacement bill after two more Republicans (Utah&#8217;s Mike Lee and Kansas&#8217; Jerry Moran) announced that they would oppose a motion to proceed. In response, McConnnell <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18699/trumpcare-fails-senate-kills-obamacare-replacement-ben-shapiro">announced</a> that he would ask the Senate to vote to &#8220;take up the House bill with the first amendment in order being what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015 and that was vetoed by then-President Obama: a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to provide for a stable transition period to a patient-centered health care system that gives Americans access to quality, affordable care.&#8221;
Tuesday morning, President Trump responded to all the political discord in a manner in which only he can. In a series of tweets, Trump efficiently smacked the obstructionist Democrats, shamed those Republicans who are now signaling that they won&#8217;t vote for a clean repeal, celebrated the Republicans who backed the legislation, underscored that Obamacare is self-imploding, and all the while exhibiting his campaign-standard &#8220;winning&#8221; optimism.
<blockquote>
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now &amp; work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific &amp; worked really hard. We will return! 
As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!
With only a very small majority, the Republicans in the House &amp; Senate need more victories next year since Dems totally obstruct, no votes!
The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now &amp; work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887134287350439936">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific &amp; worked really hard. We will return!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887279050263285761">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887280380423938048">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet"></div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
With only a very small majority, the Republicans in the House &amp; Senate need more victories next year since Dems totally obstruct, no votes!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887299895803203584">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887302632687251456">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
The reason conservative senators, including Lee, Moran, and Rand Paul, oppose the Senate bill is because, they argue, it simply doesn&#8217;t repeal enough of Obamacare and thus keeps government far too involved in Americans&#8217; health care decisions. 
&#8220;In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn&#8217;t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations,&#8221; said Lee in a statement Monday. 
As for the clean repeal vote, so far two &#8220;moderate&#8221; Republicans, Maine&#8217;s Susan Collins and Ohio&#8217;s Rob Portman, have signaled that they would not vote for it.
As Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18706/liars-moderate-republicans-reject-obamacare-repeal-ben-shapiro">Ben Shapiro</a> put it, the response from Senate Republicans to a straight repeal bill is &#8220;an excellent opportunity for conservatives to find out who was serious about Obamacare repeal, and who wasn&#8217;t&#8221; and a &#8220;litmus test for conservative primary challengers.&#8221; 
So what if the Senate fails to do anything on Obamacare at all? Well, Trump&#8217;s tweets included a worst case scenario option: let Obamacare fail on its own, a sentiment he&#8217;s expressed previously both in his campaign and as president. 
UPDATE: 
On Tuesday, Trump told the press that while he&#8217;s sitting ready pen in hand to sign a bill, it&#8217;s increasingly looking like the best option moving forward is to just &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/887356181815197697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Farchives%2F2017%2F07%2F18%2Fdoom-repeal-susan-collins-lisa-murkowski-wont-proceed-bill-unless-includes-replacement-obamacare%2F">let Obamacare fail</a>&#8220;: 
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Remarks from Trump moments ago: &#8220;Let Obamacare fail. It&#8217;ll be a lot easier.&#8221; &#8220;We&#8217;re not going to own it. I&#8217;m not going to own it.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/tq2l0sUdWW">pic.twitter.com/tq2l0sUdWW</a>
&#8212; Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/887356181815197697">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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More from The Daily Wire on the Senate shelving &#8220;Trumpcare&#8221;:
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<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18706/liars-moderate-republicans-reject-obamacare-repeal-ben-shapiro">LIARS: &#8216;Moderate&#8217; Republicans Reject Obamacare Repeal Outright &#8211; After Voting For It When Obama Was President</a>
<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18702/after-trumpcare-failure-what-comes-next-obamacare-ben-shapiro">After Trumpcare Failure, What Comes Next On Obamacare Repeal?</a>

Trump Responds In Classic Trump Fashion To Senate Dropping Obamacare Vote

Mike Lee

Rand Paul

Just hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he would attempt to bring a plain repeal of Obamacare to the floor of the Senate, the so-called &#8220;moderates&#8221; in the Senate moved to kill such a move. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), who voted for repeal in 2015, said, &#8220;If it is a bill that simply repeals, I believe that will add to more uncertainty.&#8221;
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GOP Sen. Rob Portman: &#8220;If it is a bill that simply repeals, I believe that will add to more uncertainty&#8221; and higher premiums. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie">@kasie</a>) <a href="https://t.co/BKVuIaTGxW">pic.twitter.com/BKVuIaTGxW</a>
&#8212; Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/887317342388191232">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who opposed the Trumpcare Senate bill, said she wouldn&#8217;t vote to advance a pure repeal. Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) also says she won&#8217;t vote for such a bill; she voted for precisely such a bill in 2015. She issued this statement:
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As I have said before, I did not come to Washington to hurt people. For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefited from West Virginia&#8217;s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis. All of the Senate health care discussions drafts have failed to address these concerns adequately. My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.
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They won&#8217;t be the only ones.
This is an excellent opportunity for conservatives to find out who was serious about Obamacare repeal, and who wasn&#8217;t. This should be a litmus test for conservative primary challengers. While President Trump is focusing, laserlike, on offing Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) for the crime of not being sufficiently deferential to Trump himself, Republicans should focus on whether they need Senators who vote to keep in place bad Democratic legislation out of a desire to expand government.
So, where is President Trump?
This would be the time for him to exert some pressure. But so far, it&#8217;s just been Vice President Pence, stating that &#8220;inaction is not an option.&#8221; Except that it is obviously, most assuredly an option. For most senators, it may be the most useful option. This is the problem with a president who seems to care only when his ego is slighted, not about his policy prescriptions.

LIARS: ‘Moderate’ Republicans Reject Obamacare Repeal Outright — After Voting For It When Obama Was President

Rob Portman

On Monday evening, the Senate version of Obamacare replacement crashed and burned as Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) announced they would not support a bill that didn&#8217;t repeal Obamacare, and in fact left its regulatory infrastructure in place while increasing certain subsidies.
So, now the big question: what comes next?
President Trump, who has never invested much time or effort in Obamacare repeal, tweeted out three mutually exclusive plans in the span of twelve hours. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell presented an alternative as well. None of these plans is in particularly good shape.
Repeal Obamacare, Set The Time Bomb. This is McConnell&#8217;s plan: vote on Obamacare repeal, but only set it to detonate in two years. That would allow Republicans to get beyond the midterm election, but would set a time bomb for President Trump in 2020, as the weight of repeal would hit all at once. The presumption is that such a threat would push Republicans to come up with an alternative; perhaps it would. It&#8217;s also just as possible that Republicans don&#8217;t have the votes in the Senate to advance a pure repeal, because Senators like Susan Collins don&#8217;t want to be held hostage to reforms they&#8217;d prefer not to implement.
Repeal Obamacare, Then Work With Democrats. Yeah, good luck with that. Here&#8217;s President Trump making this proposal:
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Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now &amp; work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887134287350439936">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The chances that Democrats will be interested in working with Republicans after a full-scale repeal are somewhere between &#8220;never going to happen&#8221; and &#8220;BAHAHAHAHAHA.&#8221;
Blame Conservatives, Work With Democrats. This was Trump&#8217;s second proposal:
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We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific &amp; worked really hard. We will return!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887279050263285761">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887280380423938048">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This is the call from such self-appointed conservative guardians as Laura Ingraham:
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Q for <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee">@SenMikeLee</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul">@RandPaul</a>: Why is keeping Obamacare preferable to any alt. that could get 50 GOP votes in the Senate?
&#8212; Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) <a href="https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/887279313514627072">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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There&#8217;s no point pretending that the GOP will pass major legislation on its own. Must either work w/ Dems or do nothing.
&#8212; Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) <a href="https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/887279796232880128">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Hilariously, Ingraham is now on the same side of this issue as that awful cuck Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who stated, &#8220;The Congress must now return to regular order, hold hearings, receive input from members of both parties, and heed the recommendations of our nation&#8217;s governors so that we can produce a bill that finally provides Americans with access to quality and affordable health care.&#8221;
Trump has threatened this for months &#8212; let Obamacare die, force Democrats to the table. It&#8217;s asinine. It&#8217;s not going to happen, because Democrats will never participate in bipartisan legislation with Trump. They don&#8217;t even hold similar principles. Their version of bipartisan legislation would include massive new subsidies, massive new regulations, and a hard push toward single-payer health care.
Get Rid Of The Filibuster (?). This was Trump&#8217;s latest proposal:
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The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/887302632687251456">July 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Of course, the problem here is that Republicans can&#8217;t even get to 51 votes on a simple repeal or an agreement for replacement. So this won&#8217;t help too much, although it would make it easier to get to 51 votes if you didn&#8217;t have to worry about the Senate&#8217;s arcane reconciliation rules.
The most likely scenario here is that Republicans fail to vote to repeal, Obamacare continues to spiral, and Republicans end up passing a few quick fixes to prevent full-scale disaster. That&#8217;s how they&#8217;ve addressed every other Democratic program for the last 70 years, so why should this be any different?

After Trumpcare Failure, What Comes Next On Obamacare Repeal?

On <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/17/politics/health-care-motion-to-proceed-jerry-moran-mike-lee/index.html">Monday evening</a>, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) announced they would oppose a motion to proceed on the Trumpcare bill pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Lee opposes the bill because it doesn&#8217;t actually repeal Obamacare, instead re-enshrining its central principles while changing cost structure and boosting subsidies. Moran explained:
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We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy. Furthermore, if we leave the federal government in control of everyday healthcare decisions, it is more likely that our healthcare system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase.
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Lee added, &#8220;In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn&#8217;t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations.&#8221;
Apparently, Lee and Moran were just the first senators to join Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME) in opposing the bill; more were expected to announce they couldn&#8217;t support the bill, which has a 20% approval rating in polls.
McConnell immediately announced his intention to move the House Republican bill to the floor as it stands, and use it as a husk for passing Obamacare repeal without replacement:
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Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to appeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful. So, in the coming days, the Senate will vote to take up the House bill with the first amendment in order being what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015 and that was vetoed by then-President Obama: a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to provide for a stable transition period to a patient-centered health care system that gives Americans access to quality, affordable care.
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This, of course, is what conservatives had called for all along. We will now find out which Republicans are unwilling to actually support repealing Obamacare at all, after lying about it for seven years.
Or perhaps we won&#8217;t. It&#8217;s quite possible that the Senate never gets the chance to get to a full repeal vote, since it would only take two Republicans beyond Collins to kill that chance.
Ironically, Lee may have saved Trump from himself on this bill &#8212; the bill is highly unpopular, would grant Trump ownership over Obamacare, and could cripple his re-election efforts. It&#8217;s unclear whether Trump realizes that; he&#8217;s now tweeted out three different positions on the events of the day in 12 hours.
But there&#8217;s no question that the widespread perception that Republicans have no ability to govern seems to be borne out here. So, who&#8217;s to blame?
Republican Moderate Liars. There&#8217;s an effort on the part of some Republican moderates to blame Lee for this failure &#8212; they say that Lee allowed the perfect to be the enemy of the good. After all, the bill reformed Medicaid and included tax cuts, even if it left the Obamacare superstructure in place. Why not vote for something to change things? The answer is obvious: Republicans promised for seven long years to repeal Obamacare, not just trim around the edges. It&#8217;s not Lee&#8217;s fault that Republicans lied and that he wants to hold them to their promise. That&#8217;s the fault of the liars who promised repeal and then delivered Obamacare 2.0 with some ketchup.
President Trump. The president cannot escape blame here, nor should he. On major pieces of legislation &#8212; and this would be a signature piece of legislation &#8212; the president takes the lead. He doesn&#8217;t have to understand the intricacies of everything in the bill, but he has to understand something beyond &#8220;it&#8217;ll be tremendous and everybody will be covered.&#8221; He also has to beat the bushes for support, threaten and cajole, bring his pressure to bear. President Obama did that for nearly two years. Trump has been absolutely AWOL on this. Yesterday, he had a meeting with Senators who already support the bill. Also, he rode a firetruck. Then he tweeted some. He is deeply ambivalent about the bill in any case, as he should be: he promised the moon of universal coverage to voters in 2016, and the moon will never be achieved with repeal. That ambivalence came out in the form of endorsing the House bill, then crapping all over it publicly &#8212; which meant that Senators had to think about whether it was really worth risking a vote for a deeply unpopular bill when there was no guarantee Trump would stand by them in any case.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell. McConnell is supposed to be a legislative genius. He was bamboozled by President Trump and Ryan into embracing repeal and replace, a policy he didn&#8217;t originally support. Now he&#8217;ll go back to the drawing board. McConnell has a fractious caucus, to be sure. But that just means he should have had more leverage with Ryan and Trump in drawing up the bill in the first place.
House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan rammed a bad House bill through. He did so with some mild payoffs to conservatives. The bill was unpopular through and through. But Ryan wanted his Medicaid reform. Trump then ripped the bill as &#8220;mean,&#8221; leading to a rewrite in the Senate. At no point did Ryan and McConnell seem to coordinate their efforts with Trump. Perhaps that&#8217;s Trump&#8217;s fault. But Ryan has to do his job.
So, back to the drawing board.
The only problem is that all the same underlying problems remain for Republicans: they don&#8217;t agree on what to do, they were fibbing for years, and the president remains apathetic about the entire shebang. Good luck!

TRUMPCARE FAILS: Senate Kills Obamacare Replacement Bill. So, Who’s To Blame?

The vote on the latest version of Trumpcare has been <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/15/politics/john-mccain-blood-clot/index.html">delayed</a> as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is recovering from surgery. The Congressional Budget Office&#8217;s (CBO) analysis has reportedly been <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-cbo-score-gop-health-care-bill-delay-20170716-story.html">delayed</a> as well. But if/when a vote is finally held for the bill, will Trumpcare be able to pass?
Here are seven things you need to know about the latest version of Trumpcare.
1. It features a watered down version of Sen. Ted Cruz&#8217;s (R-TX) amendment. The amendment, the &#8220;<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18543/senate-conservatives-should-view-ted-cruzs-josh-hammer">Consumer Freedom Amendment</a>,&#8221; would allow insurers to offer plans that don&#8217;t meet Obamacare&#8217;s regulations so long as they offer at least one that does. However, the amendment was predicated on the notion that there would be two separate risk pools: one for sicker Americans and one for healthier ones. The version of the amendment in this iteration of Trumpcare keeps all plans confined in one risk pool, a move that would not result in lower health care costs. As <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/no-freedom-option-revised-senate-health-care-bill">Michael Cannon explains</a>, the result of the amendment would be insurers undercharging or overcharging for plans, ultimately making it easier to just offer plans that comply with Obamacare.
Further complicating the matter is the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as American Commitment President Phil Kerpen <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-tweak-that-could-cost-mike-lees-vote-and-sink-the-healthcare-bill/article/2628755">explains</a>: 
<blockquote>&#8220;People can&#8217;t make sense of it because it is indeterminate until HHS makes the definition,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It really, I think, leaves the whole viability of the noncompliant plan entirely up to the ability of HHS to conduct this rulemaking in a way that is legally defensible and would create room for them to move independently.&#8221;
HHS, he said, could continue to have an index rate on the entire pool but allow adjustments in cost based on health status.
&#8220;If they want to be more aggressive, they could say single risk pool refers to an accounting actuarial unification across these two different markets,&#8221; he said, meaning that the rule could allow for market segmentation even if the single risk pool requirement isn&#8217;t repealed.
The downside for advocates of the proposal, Kerpen said, is that the rule could be redefined under a Democratic administration, putting the noncompliant plans out of business.
</blockquote>
2. It <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/news/economy/obamacare-repeal-senate-health-care-bill/index.html">trims around the edges of Obamacare</a>. Trumpcare would rescind the employer and individual mandates as well as the taxes on medical devices and insurers, and allow insurers to charge seniors higher premiums. There are problems with these changes when leaving most of Obamacare in place, as The Daily Wire has previously explained <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/14226/9-biggest-problems-trumpcare-aaron-bandler">here</a>.
The bill also throws a couple of scraps to conservatives by defunding Planned Parenthood for a year and allowing more contributions into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
3. It expands the size of the federal government. Here are the important big government aspects of the bill, as outlined by <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/obamacare-40-swampcare-fixes-zero-will-lead-to-single-payer">Daniel Horowitz</a>:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Keeps tax increases to pay for the entitlement: The revised bill maintains the two largest Obamacare tax increases: the increased Medicare payroll tax and the 3.8 percent surcharge on investment income. That <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/republicans-help-promote-obamacare-but-hey-tax-cuts">was the only aspect of Obamacare that Republicans universally opposed until now</a>.</li>
<li>Endless bailouts: In addition, it adds another $70 billion to the existing $112 billion bailout fund for insurers to further inflate the price of insurance and self-perpetuates the need for endless bailouts, which will lead to single-payer.</li>
<li>More Medicaid spending: The revised bill also throws more money at Medicaid than the previous version (not that any of the baseline rate reductions were going to take place anyway). As I <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/enough-about-medicaid-what-about-the-rest-of-us">explained before</a>, once you fail to heal the private market, we will all be forced onto Medicaid and there will be no way to reduce the program. Mitch McConnell <a href="https://twitter.com/pw_cunningham/status/885503480282046466">reportedly admitted</a> that our allegation was correct when he allegedly told a group of liberal Republicans not to worry about the Medicaid cuts because they would never go into effect.</li>
</ul>
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In other words, the Senate is mostly keeping Obamacare in place while allowing the federal government to expand through more federal tax dollars for Medicaid and insurance bailouts. The GOP leadership is doing so while trying to shield themselves from the Left&#8217;s class warfare rhetoric.
4. The bill features <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18601/latest-senate-trumpcare-bill-features-these-aaron-bandler">numerous backroom deals</a> that are reminiscent of Obamacare. They mostly involve higher Medicaid payments to Alaska and Louisiana, presumably aimed at buying off Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who are moderate-to-liberal Republicans.
5. Passing this bill would be political suicide for Republicans. Trumpcare is essentially a Republican version of Obamacare, which means the Republicans will be held responsible for the death spiral set in motion by Obamacare that will continue under Trumpcare. As <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447899/democrats-2018-election-prospects-trump-bashing-helps-them?utm_source=social&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=shapiro&amp;utm_content=trump-bashing">Ben Shapiro has explained</a>, the Democrats can win in 2018 by simply unifying in reactionary opposition against President Trump and the Republicans, and attaching them to a piece of unpopular legislation. Passing Trumpcare would give them that opportunity.
6. The bill is in a precarious position in the Senate. Two Republican senators &#8212; Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) &#8212; have indicated that they will vote against the bill. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-tweak-that-could-cost-mike-lees-vote-and-sink-the-healthcare-bill/article/2628755">Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is undecided on the bill</a> because of the watering down of the amendment he co-authored with Cruz. Should Lee decide to vote against the bill, Trumpcare would fail in the Senate. There are <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/news/economy/obamacare-repeal-senate-health-care-bill/index.html">reportedly</a> as many as ten Republican senators who are wary of the bill. 
The bill might not even come up for a vote because, according to <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/07/17/commentary-its-unacceptable-for-any-senate-republican-to-block-healthcare-debate-amendments-and-vote-n2355137">Guy Benson</a>, &#8220;a handful of GOP members are threatening to join with Democrats to reject a &#8216;motion to proceed.'&#8221;
&#8220;This obstructionist tactic would effectively kill the legislation prior to a floor debate, an unlimited amendment process (as required for budget reconciliation bills), and a final vote,&#8221; writes Benson.
7. Trumpcare is reflective of the GOP buying into the Democrats&#8217; premise of the health care debate. Shapiro <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18648/trumps-health-and-human-services-secretary-just-ben-shapiro">took HHS Secretary Tom Price to task</a> for stating that Trumpcare would result in more people having coverage:
<blockquote>
And herein lies the problem for the Republicans: they&#8217;ve accepted the Democratic metric on health care success. They now believe that the mark of a good piece of legislation is the increase in number of insured, rather than increase in personal freedom in choosing insurance options. That means they are bound to restrict insurance choice, since it is far easier to achieve &#8220;full coverage&#8221; through regulation and subsidies than it is through allowing people to choose whether to be covered, particularly young and healthy people.
</blockquote>
By giving into the Democrats&#8217; premise, the Republicans are going to be sacrificing affordability and/or quality for universality, which means that we may never return to a true free market health care system.
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