Senate Parliamentarian is making swiss cheese of the Trumpcare monstrosity.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Ron Wyden are teaming up to punch so many holes in this monstrosity, even if it gets to reconciliation the chances of it passing are now greatly diminished.
State waivers for eliminating Essential Health Benefits and Pre-Existing Conditions, that the hard right Freedom Caucus was salivating over and wanted, now ruled by the Senate Parliamentarian to violate Senate rules.
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WASHINGTON, July 27 – The Senate parliamentarian determined Thursday that portions of Section 207, “Waivers for State Innovation,” of the Republican health bill are not permissible under Senate rules. Notably, the part that would have amended Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to allow states to waive essential health benefits and other pre-existing condition requirements so long as their proposal does not increase the federal deficit violates the Byrd Rule.
Under current law, 1332 waivers allow states to waive certain Affordable Care Act provisions as long as they can ensure that they cover the same number of people, same level of services and same protections against high out of pocket costs.
"The function of reconciliation is to adjust federal spending and revenue, not to enact major changes in social policy. The parliamentarian's latest decision reveals once again that Republicans have abused the reconciliation process in an attempt to radically change one-sixth of the American economy by repealing the Affordable Care Act," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member on the Budget Committee.
"Today’s decision confirms that Senate Republicans cannot use their partisan, go-it-alone reconciliation process to water down key consumer safeguards like protection for people with pre-existing conditions and essential health benefits that Americans count on today. I wrote Section 1332 into the Affordable Care Act to give pioneering states the opportunity to innovate and make health care better, not worse. This decision upholds that intent and calls into question whether other regulatory changes that amount to anti-consumer schemes will fly under the partisan reconciliation process," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Finance Committee.