Today, the Senate is expected to vote on a new version of ACA repeal legislation. After votes on other versions failed, Republicans may now pursue a “skinny” repeal bill – but its contents remain unclear and it could be beefed up. If passed, this bill could either be directly voted on by the House, or serve as  a vehicle for a conference committee with the House, where it could be changed or substituted by something else. It is likely that Republicans will push for a more aggressive repeal and replace option and that there will be little or no further opportunity for debate.  

The projected impact of the “skinny” repeal bill is that at least 16 million would lose coverage and premiums would increase by 20% every year for the next 20 years. And the impact could be much worse. Governor Inslee and Insurance Commissioner Kreidler just released a statement saying this legislation “would revive the same disastrous health care reform experiment that failed in Washington state 20 years ago…nothing but a patchwork of failed or untenable policies that will harm Washington state’s health insurance system, cost tens of thousands of Washingtonians their health coverage and increase costs.”

Senator Cantwell stood strong the night before the motion to proceed vote – with these words for her colleagues: “…the president promised he was not going to cut Medicaid, and now it’s like you want somebody to jump off the cliff tomorrow and you’re saying ‘oh, by the way, I’ll throw you a parachute on the way down.’ It doesn’t work.” Senator Patty Murray pushed back this morning before the vote-o-rama started and “if they jam it through, they [the Republicans] will be held accountable.”