Y A W N. Senate Version Likely Will Not Clear US House...

To much faux-hullabaloo, the Senate GOP leadership is releasing its super secret plan for health care delivery, at this very moment. YAWN.

It is, in the main, ObamaCare 2.0 -- with decreasing subsidies after seven years -- conveniently just beyond the time when the more moderate Senators will need to seek re-election. It is actually not too horrific -- as in many ways it is ObamaCare 2.0, or Lite -- if one prefers. It keeps protections against pre-existing conditions exclusions. [One of my literally dozens of backgrounders, here.] Of course anything in it is likely to be amended in the next five to seven years -- even if by some miracle both chambers agree on. . . anything.

And that is why it is DOA in the US House. Those GOP critters face re-election in 2018. And all of them told lies about repealing ObamaCare. This Senate package does no such thing. So I'll adhere to my view that 45 will receive nothing to sign, before 2018 mid-terms -- and maybe. . . never. From the Wa Po's Health 202 blog, then -- a bit:

. . . .The Senate bill. . . subsidies closely mirror Obamacare subsidies, which are currently available to Americans earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Starting in 2020, under the Senate bill, this assistance would be capped for those earning up to 350 percent — but anyone below that line could get the subsidies if they’re not eligible for Medicaid. As under the ACA, the subsidies would be pegged to a benchmark insurance plan each year, ensuring that the assistance grows enough over time to keep coverage affordable for customers.

McConnell is also offering moderates an approach to Medicaid he hopes will be more politically palatable to them. It's true the draft proposes even deeper cuts to Medicaid than the House version by tying federal spending to a slower growth index. But that wouldn't kick in for another seven years, well past moderate senators' next reelection battles. And it doesn't fully end the ACA's Medicaid expansion until five years from now, gradually easing down the extra federal payments over three years starting in 2021. . . .

Y A W N. So, the ACA of 2010 remains the law of the land, just as I foretold. No binding changes in existing law -- in any case -- until after 2018. That's Condor's (my) prognostication. What a pack of incompetents. How droll. I think I'll go take a sunshine-dappled June summer's morning. . . stroll.

Hey. . . that rhymes. Smile. . . .

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