It ain’t over ’til the Fat Lady doesn’t worry about her Medicaid being cut off

Yes, it’s great that John McCain seems to have thrown a wrench into the Graham-Cassidy Repeal-and-not-really-Replace mess. But three things to consider:

1. There’s still a week-plus before the end of the reconciliation period. Plenty of time for someone to cut some deals to get McCain, or Paul, or any other potential hold-outs (maybe even a Dem) to flip to Yes.
2. That ends the reconciliation-based attempts this year. The clock can start back up again on 1 January. Will the GOP be more or less likely to follow through on this, when they are so close, during an election year?
3. McCain doesn’t seem to be objecting to the content of the bill, but to how it was shoved through the Senate at breakneck speed, with no CBO score, no input from the Dems, only one brief set of hearings planned, and a minimum 90 second floor debate planned. In theory, if the GOP decide to look like they are playing nice next year, McCain will have no problem voting for a bill that does exactly what Graham-Cassidy does.

The ACA — and Medicaid, and the health insurance coverage for tens of millions of Americans — will remain at risk as long as the GOP holds the White House and both chamber of Congress.

McCain Comes Out Against Last-Ditch Obamacare Repeal Effort
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) issued a lengthy statement Friday afternoon announcing his opposition to the last-ditch Obamacare repeal effort in…

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