7 Republican Senators In Big Trouble Over Healthcare

A few hours after the House voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday, The Atlantic published a piece by Trump critic George Conway, Donald Trump Made His Own Impeachment Inevitable, asserting that Trump's "narcissism renders him unable to comply with his duties to the nation... In essence, Trump thinks everything should be about him, for him, for his benefit and glorification-- and he can’t comprehend, and doesn’t care about, anything that isn’t... [S]enators-- especially the Republicans-- will face a choice that they should understand goes far beyond politics. They must choose whether to follow the facts, or to follow their fears; to uphold propriety, or to perpetuate partisanship; to champion the truth, or to legitimate lies; to defend the interests of the nation and its Constitution, or the personal interests of one vainglorious man. In short, whether to comply with their solemn oaths, or not. Should they choose to violate their oaths, history will long remember them for having done so-- not simply because of the insurmountable evidence of what Trump has already done, but also because Trump, by his nature, will assuredly do it all again." But Trump's impeachment isn't the only issue Republican senators seeking reelection have to figure out how to deal with.

Intense national polling from the last half of November, shows that healthcare is still the #1 issue for American voters. (Remember how badly that worked out for the GOP in 2018.) Asked how various issues were, health care came out way ahead for most American voters. For each issue, the first number represents what percentage of voters said it was important to them in deciding for whom to vote and the second number represents the voters who said it wasn't:

• Healthcare- 88% to 11%
• Economy and Jobs- 87% to 13%
• National Security- 85% to 13%
• Taxes- 81% to 18%
• Immigration- 80% to 19%
• Criminal Justice- 75% to 22%
• Foreign Policy- 73% to 24%
• Environment- 72% to 27%
• Federal Deficit- 71% to 25%
• K-12 Education- 68% to 30%
• Income Inequality- 68% to 31%
• Race Relations- 66% to 31%
• Supreme Court Appointments- 65% to 31%
• China Trade Policy- 65% to 31%
• Climate Change- 65% to 34%
• Religious Freedom- 60% to 37%
• College Affordability- 60% to 39%

When asked if it would be a "deal breaker" if a candidate held a different view on any of these issues, healthcare was again the most important. These are the most intense wedge issues:

• Health Care- 86%
• Immigration- 82%
• Economic/Tax Policy- 81%
• Abortion- 78%
• Gun Control- 77%
• Foreign Policy- 72%
• Religious Freedom- 70%
• Climate Change- 68%
• Supreme Court appointments- 67%
• Same Sex Marriage- 67%
• Death Penalty- 63%
• Transgender Rights- 62%

And when asked if they support "Medicare for All, which is a system where all Americans, not just older ones, get health insurance through the government’s Medicare system?" 62% said yes and 32% said no.

The reason I'm bringing this up today is because on Wednesday, as Trump was being impeached and Conway was writing about it, a Federal Appeals Court in Texas, responding to a suit by the Trumpist Regime and the state of Texas, decided that the Obamacare individual mandate is unconstitutional and has ordered lower courts to examine whether the entire law is unconstitutional, almost certainly setting up another Supreme Court case right in the middle of the 2020 elections. Also possibly setting up the loss of healthcare coverage for millions of Americans. And what about the incredibly, universally popular parts of the law like the one prohibiting predatory insurance companies to deny affordable coverage to people-- virtually everyone over 50-- with a pre-existing condition?

"There's no mystery who is to blame for this grave threat to Americans' health care," said Josh Dorner, a progressive communications expert who has worked on ACA-related litigation for a decade. "Trump and the conservatives who brought this lawsuit in the first place," he asserted and then went on to explain that while all this was going on, Republicans in Congress have consistently voted against measures meant to stop the Trump administration’s participation in the lawsuit and to protect Americans from its disastrous consequences. This decision will send the entire health care system into a meltdown, leading to chaos for the tens of millions of Americans who will directly lose coverage, possibly overnight, as well as everyone else who will lose vital protections for preexisting conditions and other benefits and protections enshrined into law by the ACA. In order to obscure the catastrophic political and human consequences of striking down the law, the 5th Circuit conservatives are playing a game of hot potato with this sham remand. Pushing the fate of this lawsuit past the 2020 election will only increase and prolong the damaging uncertainty about the future of the ACA and Americans' health care. Destroying the entire ACA would have widespread, immediate, and devastating consequences, including: 

o    Marketplace tax credits and coverage for ~10 million people: GONE.
o    Medicaid expansion currently covering ~17 million people: GONE.
o    Protections for 133 million people with pre-existing conditions when they buy coverage on their own: GONE.
o    Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26: GONE.
o    Ban on annual and lifetime limits: GONE.
o    Ban on insurance discrimination against women: GONE.
o    Limit on out-of-pocket costs: GONE.
o    Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs: GONE.
o    Essential Health Benefits: GONE.
o    Required improvements to employer-sponsored coverage: GONE.
o    Rules to hold insurance companies accountable: GONE.
o    Small business tax credits: GONE.

So what are vulnerable Republican senators saying about all this? Take the seven Republicans reference above:

• Senator McSally (AZ): “That’s their decision” and “it’s not my role” to oppose the lawsuit.
• Senator Gardner (CO) initially dodged before endorsing the GOP’s argument that the health care law is unconstitutional.
• Senator Perdue (GA) said all along that he “of course” wanted the lawsuit to succeed.
• Senator Ernst (IA): “Um, I am not going to make a determination on that, I am not an attorney.”




• Senator Collins (ME) helped pass the reckless tax giveaway that laid the foundation for her party’s dangerous lawsuit and when asked about her vote, Collins said, “Let me be clear I… would support it again today.”
• Senator Tillis (NC) at first “did not give a firm position” but later embraced the lawsuit and explained: “I support anything that ultimately takes [the ACA] off the table.”
• Senator Cornyn (TX): “I support having the courts make the decision.” 

This morning, the Urban Institute Health Policy Center released a report on the implications of Trump's successful judicial strategy to destroy of Obamacare. It is clear that it's mostly residents of swing states and red states that will suffer the most from the Trumpist jihad against healthcare. Among the states where uninsured rates will shoot up by more than 100% are not just Trumpist bastions like West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky, but swing states that are already turning away from Trump, particularly Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, Montana and Alaska. Maine would be hit harder than almost any other state, and although the state is not likely to vote for Trump anyway, Susan Collins is already in trouble in her reelection bid. This could also be the death knell for unpopular Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan.

Teresa Tomlinson is a progressive running for a Georgia Senate seat occupied by a rabid Trumpets who would abolish Medicare altogeher if he could. Teresa and he are as opposite as political leaders could be. "Healthcare," said Tomlinson, "is an economic necessity and moral imperative. I support universal healthcare and will work to make it a reality. David Perdue, Donald Trump and the judges they appoint, are determined to destroy the ACA and leave millions uninsured. Their efforts are irresponsible beyond imagination."

The progressive in the Colorado Senate race, Andrew Romanoff, understands exactly how to fix the problem-- and he's campaigning on it. This is what he told us this morning: "Cory Gardner and the GOP have spent nearly a decade attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with nothing at all. Their hollow promises would subject Americans to discrimination on the basis of preexisting conditions and strip coverage from millions more. We can do better. Let’s stand up to the insurance industry and the drug companies, take a lesson from the rest of the industrialized world, and enact a system of Medicare of All." Agree? Manifest that agreement here.

You can use that same link to contribute to Betsy Sweet's campaign. She's the progressive in the Maine Senate race seeking to replace PAC-backed Susan Collins. And, like Andrew, Betsy is a strong Medicare-for-All backer. "The healthcare system in this country," she explained today, "is working as it was designed. It’s not broken. It’s 'fixed' in such a way that our health is the least of industry’s concerns. It is designed to generate profit for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Medicare-for-All is not a pie-in-the-sky idea. It is simply transforming our current healthcare system-- one that we are all currently paying for in multiple ways-- into one where no one has to decide between paying rent and seeing a doctor."