After weeks of negotiations and last-minute drama, the House GOP has pulled its Obamacare replacement bill after it became clear that there were not enough votes to pass it.
After weeks of negotiations and last-minute drama, the House GOP has pulled its Obamacare replacement bill after it became clear that there were not enough votes to pass it.
“We came really close today, but we came up short,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said in a press conference after the bill was pulled.
Around midday on Friday, Ryan rushed over to the White House to tell President Donald Trump that despite negotiations, there would not be enough votes to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After lawmakers debated on the floor of the House for hours, the House went into recess subject to the call of the chair.
The vote on AHCA, which had been postponed from its original scheduled date of Thursday, was supposed to start at 3:30 pm on Friday. At the beginning of the day, Trump told Republicans to vote on the bill Friday or he would leave the ACA intact and move on to other legislation. Pulling the bill now ensures that the ACA will remain for now.
“Obamacare is the law of the land,” Ryan said. “It’s going to remain the law of the land until it’s replaced. We did not have quite the votes to replace this law. So we’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future. I don’t know how long it’s going to take us to replace this law. My worry is Obamacare is going to be getting even worse.”
The House Freedom Caucus mostly stood in opposition to the bill, as well as a growing number of other representatives. At last count, NBC had 34 Republicans and all Democrats in opposition of the bill. GOP leadership could only afford 22 votes against the bill.
“The president understands this is it,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said before the bill was pulled, but after Ryan informed him they didn’t have the votes. “We had this opportunity to change the trajectory in healthcare…”
He added that the White House and GOP leadership did everything they could to address concerns, “but at the end of the day, this isn’t a dictatorship.”
While Ryan made no attempt to hide how disappointing it was that the bill did not pass, he remained optimistic that the work is not over.
“This is a setback no 2 ways about it,” he said. “But it is not the end of the story. Because I know that every man and woman in this Congress is now more motivated to step up our game. To deliver on our promises. I know that everyone is committed to seizing this incredible opportunity that we have.”
Shortly after the bill was pulled, the American Public Health Association celebrated the bill's defeat.
“With this measure off the table, at least for now, American lives have been spared," Georges C. Benjamin, MD, the association's executive director said in a statement. "Millions can keep their health insurance. Medicaid—the nation’s health insurance safety net—remains intact, as does critical public health funding and women’s access to reproductive health services."
Real-World Study Reveals Key Insights into DLBCL Treatment Patterns, Outcomes
April 18th 2024A recent study offers valuable insights into the characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in patients across different lines of therapy, providing a look into the landscape of DLBCL management.
Read More
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
Collecting SDOH Data Can Assess Risk of Medical Nonadherence, Improve HEI and Star Ratings
April 18th 2024At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting, a panel of presenters explored changes coming to Medicare that incorporate social determinants of health (SDOH) data to improve patient and health system outcomes.
Read More
Drs Raymond Thertulien, Joseph Mikhael on Racial Disparities in Multiple Myeloma Care Access
December 28th 2023In the wake of the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Raymond Thertulien, MD, PhD, of Novant Health, and Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, discussed health equity research highlights from the meeting and drivers of racial disparities in multiple myeloma outcomes.
Listen
Commonwealth Fund Report Details Pervasive Racial and Ethnic Disparities in US Health Care, Outcomes
April 18th 2024Using 25 health system performance indicators, the Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report evaluated racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes both within and across US states and highlighted the urgent need for equitable health care policies and practices in the US.
Read More