GOP senators unveil another repeal effort as Sanders shares 'Medicare for all' plan

WASHINGTON — With Congress back from its August recess, lawmakers are making it clear that the fight over the future of the nation’s healthcare system is far from over. Wednesday on Capitol Hill saw the introduction of one bill from each side of the aisle, seemingly diametrically opposed to each other.

In a continuation of efforts to do away with the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., alongside four fellow GOP senators unveiled the Graham-Cassidy-Heller Johnson proposal. The bill would repeal the structure of the ACA, replacing it with a block grant to states that would be run through the Children’s Health Insurance Plan and used to help citizens pay for health care. It does away with the individual and employer mandates in the ACA, as well as the medical device tax, and makes it easier for states to waive ACA regulations. It also would distribute block grants evenly across states that both did and did not enact the ACA’s Medicaid expansion.

“If you want a single-payer healthcare system, this is your worst nightmare,” Graham said.  “We need people on board now to stop what i think is inevitable if we fail, which is single-payer healthcare for all, which is the end of quality and the end of a sustainable federal budget.”

Graham was speaking of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who unveiled his “Medicare for all” bill alongside its 15 Democratic cosponsors. The bill would phase in a single-payer healthcare system over the course of four years, with the Medicare eligibility age expanding to patients ages 55 years and older in the first year, with benefits expanding to include dental care, vision and hearing aids. It also would cover all children younger than 18 years old. In the second year, the eligibility age goes down to 45 years of age, followed by patients 35 years of age becoming eligible in the third year. By the fourth year, Sanders’ plan has everyone covered under a universal Medicare system that includes dental, vision and mental health care.

“Even though 28 million Americans remain uninsured and even more are underinsured, we spend far more per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation,” Sanders wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday ahead of the bill’s unveiling. “ In 2015, the United States spent almost $10,000 per person for health care; the Canadians, Germans, French and British spent less than half of that, while guaranteeing health care to everyone. Further, these countries have higher life expectancy rates and lower infant mortality rates than we do.”

Though the bill’s 15 cosponsors — almost a third of all Senate Democrats — is a far cry from the zero cosponsors a similar bill from Sanders garnered in 2013, much of the Democratic leadership has not signed onto the legislation, with Politico reporting that several  prefer legislation forthcoming from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. that would allow patients to buy into Medicare at age 55 years.

In his op-ed, Sanders cited a YouGov/Economist poll that found 60% of Americans wanting to “expand Medicare to provide health insurance to every American” — a number that included 46% of Republicans, 58% of independents and 75% of Democrats. His plan received a rebuke from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Wednesday’s press briefing.

“I think that the president as well as the majority of the country knows that the single payer system the democrats are proposing is a horrible idea,” she said. “I can’t think of anything worse than having government be more involved in your health care instead of less involved.”

Both Sanders’ and Graham’s plans come as congressional leadership — Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — have begun to pivot to focus on tax cuts. However, President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Graham’s repeal effort, noting that “inaction is not an option.”

“My Administration has consistently worked to enact legislation that repeals and replaces Obamacare, and that can pass the Senate and make it to my desk,” Trump said. “ Obamacare has been a complete nightmare for the many Americans who have been devastated by its skyrocketing healthcare premiums and deductibles and canceled or shrinking plans.”