In One Night, the GOP Voted to Take Away These Essential Health Benefits

Republican Grim Reapers just showed us exactly where they stand!

— by Melissa Boteach and Jeremy Slevin (with embellishments from this site’s editor)

Last night while you were sleeping, the Senate debated and ultimately passed a budget resolution that provides a pathway for Republicans to strip health care coverage away from 30 million Americans without having a single Democratic vote.

As the Senate debated the resolution that provides a blueprint to repeal the Affordable Care Act, both Republicans and Democrats had the opportunity to offer a flurry of rapid-fire amendments in a process known as “vote-a-rama” where a 3/5 vote (60 votes) were required for passage. While these votes are non-binding, the exercise provides an opportunity for senators to show where their colleagues stand on a number of key issues. And the results are not pretty.

Senate Republicans took several votes that showed they are not on your side. Last night, Republicans voted against amendments that would:

1. Protect people with pre-existing conditions — REJECTED
   Republicans blocked an amendment that would have made it harder to take away coverage from Americans with preexisting medical conditions. 52 million people — about 1 in 4 non-elderly Americans — have preexisting conditions. These Americans are more likely to face significant health costs, and before the Affordable Care Act, were often denied coverage entirely. The amendment also would have protected coverage for people disabilities or chronic health conditions, and prevent plans from discriminating based on health. Republicans currently have no alternative plan to insure people with preexisting conditions. Only two Republicans — Maine’s Susan Collins and Nevada’s Dean Heller — voted for the amendment (Roll Call Vote #15, Rejected 49-49, Heller voted YEA).
2. Let young adults stay on their parents’ plan — REJECTED
   Republicans blocked an amendment by Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Roll Call Vote #12, Heller voted NAY) that would have made it easier young people to stay on their parents’ health care plan until they are 26 — one of the most popular and effective provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Over 6 million young adults have gained health insurance since the law was implemented in 2010, and young Americans now report better physical and mental health. The provision is also overwhelmingly popular — 85 percent favor keeping young people on their parents’ insurance plans.
3. Maintain access to contraceptive coverage— REJECTED
   Thanks to Obamacare, birth control is more affordable than ever. Spending on contraceptive health care has gone down by 20 percent since the Affordable Care Act took effect. An amendment by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sought to continue this momentum. Unsurprisingly, Republicans blocked the provision 49–49. Sens. Collins and Heller both voted with Democrats. (Roll Call Vote #23, Heller voted YEA)
4. Ensure Medicaid expansion stays in place— REJECTED
   Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act benefited 11 million low-income Americans in 2015 alone and has created thousands of jobs for direct care workers. An amendment by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) would have sought to continue Medicaid expansion, but it was blocked by Republicans — 48–50 (Roll Call Vote # 18, Heller voted YEA).
5. Protect children on Medicaid or CHIP— REJECTED
   Republicans blocked an amendment offered by Senator Brown (D-OH) that would make it harder to ensure children could keep their health coverage on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), both of which provide comprehensive health care services for children including key preventive and developmental care.  Sens. Heller and Collins were the only two senators who bucked their party on the Sen. Brown amendment (Roll Call Vote #25, Heller voted YEA)
6. Protect veterans’ health care— REJECTED
   Republicans blocked an amendment by Sen. Tester (D-MT) that would have made it harder to restrict veterans’ ability to access VA health care. While Democrats have sought to provide better funding and health care access at the VA, Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the Veterans Administration altogether through privatization. A poll in 2015 found that almost two-thirds of survey respondents oppose plans to replace VA health care with a voucher system, an idea backed by many Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates. (Roll Call Vote #14, Heller voted YEA)

Republicans say they want to replace Obamacare with something better. But in just one night’s votes, they indicated that they are not willing to take a stand to ensure that people with pre-existing conditions, women, children, veterans, young adults, people with disabilities, and struggling families can continue to access the affordable coverage they need going forward.

Melissa Boteach is the Vice President of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), and Jeremy Slevin is the Associate Director of Advocacy for the same program. ThinkProgress is an editorially independent site housed at CAPAF.

This material [the article above] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It was created for the Progress Report, the daily e-mail publication of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Click here to subscribe. ‘Like’ CAP Action on Facebook and ‘follow’ us on Twitter

To view the entirety of the vote-arama session, click on the  “CONGRESS”  link in the header.  Open up tab for the Senate 115th session.

To get an idea of what else you’ll find there are a number of amendments that would have protected Medicaid, Medicare AND Social Security Benefits as well as provisions for Rural Hospitals (like the one in Winnemucca):

• Roll Call Vote #5 – REJECTED (Heller voted YEA): To strengthen Social Security and Medicare without raiding it to pay for new Government programs, like Obamacare, that have failed Americans by increasing premiums and reducing affordable health care options, to reform Medicaid without prioritizing able-bodied adults over the disabled, and to return regulation of insurance to State governments.
• Roll Call Vote #6 – REJECTED (Heller voted NAY ): Bernie Sanders Amdt: To prevent the Senate from breaking Donald Trump’s promise that “there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
• Roll Call Vote #7  – REJECTED (Heller voted NAY): To create a point of order against legislation that would repeal health reforms that closed the prescription drug coverage gap under Medicare.
• Roll Call Vote #10 – REJECTED (Heller voted YEA):  To create a point of order against legislation that would harm rural hospitals and health care providers.
• Roll Call Vote#20 – REJECTED (Heller voted YEA): To establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to lower prescription drug prices for Americans by importing drugs from Canada.

Roll Call Vote 26, which required only 51 votes for passage to pass the concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2017 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2018 through 2026, was indeed passed an agreed to.  That budget defunds the Affordable Care Act, and strips all funding within that bill that strengthened and extended the viability of Medicare making it easier for Republicans to defend their stance that it needs to be completely reformed and privatized.  Senator Heller voted FOR passage of S.Con.Res 3 which will defund healthcare.  Thus, his vote-arama “point-of-order” votes appear to be just for show so he can claim he supports healthcare, but when it came down to party allegiances, he clearly voted against his Nevada constituents.