Speaker Paul Ryan
By Ray O’Hanlon
They might all embrace on St. Patrick’s Day but Irish American members of the House of Representatives were about as far apart as they could be yesterday when the House voted in new healthcare legislation.
The House passed the American Health Care Act by the slim majority of 217-213 votes.
The bid to overturn the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, was led by two of the most prominent GOP Irish American politicians on Capitol Hill, Speaker Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy from California.
“Today we kept our promise,” Speaker Ryan tweeted after Thursday’s vote.
This was the second time that Ryan and McCarthy tried to secure passage of a bill to repeal Obamacare in the 435 member House.
The first attempt was scrubbed before a vote.
The bill is hugely divisive and will come up against significant criticism and opposition in the Senate.
The ferocity of the health care debate was well illustrated by another Irish American House member, Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Democrat from Philadelphia.
Boyle was one of the first House members out of the blocks with a statement after the vote on what he dubbed “Trumpcare.”
“Today’s vote by House Republicans will go down as a truly shameful moment in the history of our country,” said Boyle in his statement.
And he continued: “Today, House Republicans allowed insurers to turn higher profits on the sick and the poor. This iteration of Trumpcare now allows insurers to charge sky high premiums to older American and Americans with pre-existing conditions, while gutting Medicaid, weakening Medicare, and stripping health care from 24 million Americans.
“This reincarnated version of Trumpcare was even worse than the bill House Republicans walked back on March 24.
“To appease their most extreme wing, they made coverage for pre-existing conditions optional for states while at the same time making repeated promises to the contrary to the American people.
“If enacted, this bill will drive up costs, eviscerate the essential health benefits and protections for pre-existing conditions protected by the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans and eviscerate Medicaid, which covers our most vulnerable – all the while taxing older Americans and providing massive tax breaks to the super rich.
“A majority of this country does not support the health care plan House Republicans passed today. This is why the bill is DOA in the Senate.
“Instead of hanging sick, old and poor Americans out to dry, as this bill would do, we should instead work together toward meaningful legislation that improves and builds upon the progress achieved under the Affordable Care Act.
“It is time for Republican leaders in Congress and President Trump to get serious about improving the lives of American families rather than dividing the country to serve their political interests.”
Boyle’s sentiments were echoed by Long Island Democrat Kathleen Rice who stated: “The Republican health care bill was awful in March, and the version that passed today is even worse.
“It still completely decimates Medicaid to finance a huge tax cut for the rich, it still increases costs on seniors, and it’s still an attack on women that would de-fund Planned Parenthood.
“Now, it also allows insurers to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, and it allows states to opt out of essential health benefit requirements for things like maternity care and drug addiction treatment.
“House Republicans rushed to pass this bill before anyone could know how many more people would lose coverage – just to fulfill a campaign promise, give President Trump a so-called ‘win,’ and dump this disaster off on the Senate. Some members even admitted that they’d vote for it just so the Senate can change it and send back a completely different bill. Today’s vote was a win for the wealthy and the Washington way of doing business, and a devastating loss for everyone else in America.
“My constituents spoke out emphatically against this bill, and I will keep fighting to defeat this effort and advance real solutions that will actually make health care more affordable for everyone. We may have lost today, but our fight will continue.”
Fellow Long Islander, Republican Peter King, voted for the bill but did not release any statement subsequent to his yes vote.
King did, however, speak to the New York Times in which he acknowledged that fellow Republicans representing congressional districts with a lot of Democratic and moderate voters might face difficulties after the House decision.
“If you’re in a very moderate-to-Democratic district, yeah,” King was quoted as saying in a front page Times report.
Twenty of Representative King’s GOP House colleagues voted against the AHCA, some of them on the grounds that it did not go far enough in repealing Obamacare.
Some, however, had reservations about the AHCA for different, and in some cases critical reasons, and some of the naysayers are Irish American legislators.
Rep. Ryan Costello from Pennsylvania was of the view that the AHCA didn’t do enough to protect people with pre-existing conditions.
Congressman Dan Donovan, whose district is mostly in Staten Island, objected to the bill’s exempting New York State counties from contributing to the state’s Medicaid coffers but not New York City.
“The provision excludes New York City, putting an unfair and disproportionate burden on City residents to cover the state’s exorbitant Medicaid expenses,” said Donovan.
“We need healthcare reform, including promised Medicaid reform in New York where we spend more than Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania combined. But it shouldn’t be done on the backs of already overburdened city residents who will undoubtedly have a tax increase forced on them to pay for this eminently unfair policy.”
Rep. Patrick Meehan from Pennsylvania said in a statement that the AHCA “threatens to send premiums skyrocketing for people with pre-existing conditions.”
He added that it would “make coverage more expensive for older Americans as they near retirement.”
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a longtime supporter of Irish American causes and a veteran member of the congressional Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, said that he opposed the bill because of its cuts to Medicaid.
“The overriding concern I have is the Medicaid expansion being significantly altered. It affects so many of our disabled individuals and families, and the working poor,” Smith told the Asbury Park Press.
