Roberts: McCain disses Ducey (again) on health care

Laurie Roberts: Sen. John McCain says he needs to know the impact of Graham-Cassidy before he can vote for the Obamacare replacement. Imagine that.

Laurie Roberts
The Republic | azcentral.com
Senator John McCain

Strike a blow for statesmanship. And sanity.

Sen. John McCain on Friday announced he won’t be jumping on the Senate Republicans’ bullet train to destinations unknown (a k a Graham-Cassidy.)

McCain’s opposition will likely kill yet another fast-track plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. 

It’s not that McCain doesn’t like at least parts of the Graham-Cassidy bill. What he doesn’t like is the one-sided, hurry-up-and-pass-this-thing strategy employed to ram it through Congress before we even know what it does. (And neither should his colleagues. And neither should you.)

Something this big needs bipartisanship

“I would consider supporting legislation similar to that offered by my friends Senator Graham and Senate Cassidy if it were the product of extensive hearings, debate and amendments … ,” McCain said in a statement.

“We should not be content to pass health-care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed Obamacare through Congress in 2009. If we do so, our success could be as short-lived as theirs when the political winds shift, as they regularly do. The issue is too important and too many lives are at risk for us to leave the American people guessing from one election to the next whether and how they will acquire health insurance. A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”

McCain went on … “Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”

Did you feel that zing, Gov. Doug Ducey?

All it took Ducey was a phone call

All it took to get Arizona’s governor on board was a Saturday phone call from President Donald Trump, who believed that what Ducey thought was key to winning McCain's vote. (As if.)

Within 48 hours, Arizona's politicially ambitious governor was tweeting out his enthusiastic support for the bill.

“Congress has 12 days to say ‘yes’ to Graham-Cassidy,” Ducey tweeted on Monday. “It’s time for them to get the job done.”

Never mind that he had no clue how much it would cost Arizona ($1.7 billion in 2020, according to legislative budget analysts) or how it would affect premiums or how many people would be helped or hurt by it.

McCain, saavy senator that he is, ignored Gov. Sycophant.

Again, that is. 

Remember skinny repeal, the bill that would have resulted in 15 million people becoming uninsured by 2018 and premiums up by 20 percent next year?

McCain said he wanted to be sure the bill wouldn't punish Arizona.

'My position on this proposal will be largely guided by Governor Ducey's analysis of how it would impact the people of our state," he said at the time.

Shortly before the Senate vote, Ducey called and recommended that McCain vote yes.

So naturally, McCain voted no.

MORE FROM ROBERTS:

McCain should listen to himself on health care

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