KALAMAZOO, MICH. (WKZO-AM/FM) — There is a new healthcare rewrite on the table in Washington, but it doesn’t seem to have the needed votes to pass at this point.
The Congressional Budget Office will be working through the weekend to analyze the proposal to estimate what impact it will have on the insured and the nation’s treasury.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s revised healthcare plan offers concessions to both conservatives and moderates and may have persuaded neither. The plan restores some of the tax assessments on the rich imposed by Obamacare to fund the system, but still makes deep cuts in Medicaid.
It offered the bare bones discount policy Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wanted for young citizens, but that may shift costs to older Americans, making the bill less acceptable to moderates, and intensely unpopular with seniors.
Kalamazoo Vice Mayor Don Cooney said at Thursday night’s healthcare rally that these plans could cost 15 million Americans their health care coverage, resulting in their premature deaths.
The protestors who appeared at Congressman Fred Upton’s field office in Kalamazoo were not starry-eyed liberals and long hairs. Most had grey hair and a lifetime of experience dealing with the healthcare system.
A few were in wheelchairs, who said they can be productive members of society if they have coverage, but will have to fall back on the system without it.
And it’s not just patients. Dr. Lisa Marshall is a family practitioner who fears it healthcare could be headed back in the wrong direction. She said she has been able to help out a lot more families that she fears will lose their coverage if the Trumpcare packages pass.
A vote could come next week.
