The pre-July 4 rush to pass the Senate version of healthcare failed, and the bill is back in the shop for repairs. Senators and their constituents have time to pause and reflect before majority leader Mitch McConnell’s next attempt to create a bill that satisfies 50 of the 52 Republican senators, allowing Vice President Pence to ride in on his white charger and cast the 51st vote. Here in Arizona, our focus is on senators Flake and McCain. Maybe they’ll meet with constituents during the break and hear what people have to say, maybe not. Maybe they’ve been reading their emails and listening to their voicemails, maybe not. Maybe they’ve been looking at the way the bill is tanking in the polls, maybe . . . oh, hell, there’s no maybe on this one, we know they’ve been reading the polls religiously.

Let me make a public plea to the two of them as they consider their options. Take a stand on health care. Draw a line in the sand. Tell us, “Here is what I demand from a bill. If it doesn’t come up to my minimum standard, I’m voting No.”

For two outspoken guys, Flake and McCain have been awfully quiet and mealy-mouthed about the health care bill. The number of senators who say they almost positively won’t vote for the bill in its current form moves up and down, but it’s somewhere around 8. Neither of our guys is among them. Both say they’re studying the bill. Flake has hidden in the shadows. McCain, Mr. Straight Talk Express, who can’t resist the lure of a microphone when it’s put in front of him, swerved all over the road when he was asked the question.

“I’ve been talking with the governor (Republican Doug Ducey), and we’re having conversations, and we will go through the whole bill together, and we will have time to discuss it and decide. … Right now the governor’s initial impression is that it’s not helpful to his state. We’re going to continue to have conversations, we’re going to listen to the debate, and decide.”

If the bill had come up for a vote this week and it was close, chances are McConnell could have counted on Flake and McCain to be Yes votes. “After considering the pros and cons, I decided this bill will be an overall positive . . .” blah, blah, blah. But it didn’t come up for a vote, so now there’s time to read the bill. There’s time to pore over the analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. There’s time for them to tell their constituents what must be added to or subtracted from the bill before they give it their approval.

Here’s my suggestion to our two senators. Set a maximum number of people who will no longer have health insurance if Obamacare is replaced by GOPcare. The CBO said 18 million fewer people would have insurance by 2018 with the current version, and that number would go up to 22 million by 2026. Those numbers may be high or low, but they weren’t written by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. They came from CBO head Keith Hall, who worked in the Bush administration and was suggested for his current job by Tom Price, Trump’s secretary of health and human services. His numbers may not be 100 percent accurate, but he can’t be accused of being a partisan out to sabotage Republicans. And even if his numbers are too high by, say, 25 percent, it would still mean 13 to 16 million fewer people would have insurance than under Obamacare. The loss of insurance is inevitable. Anyone who can do basic arithmetic knows, if you give a $700 billion tax cut to the rich and take it out of health care, that’s going to cut access.

So what’s your top number, Jeff and John? Five million fewer with health insurance by 2026? Ten million? Fifteen million? You certainly can’t think it’s OK to add 22 million Americans to the list of the uninsured. That many more people one injury or illness away from financial ruin? That can’t be acceptable, can it?

If I could only address one of our two senators, I’d talk to Jeff Flake. McCain loves to thrust out his chest and talk tough on the issues, but his usual M.O. is: Chest out, back down, chest out, back down. Flake, it seems to me, is less of a showboat. He looks to be a man with a genuine moral center. I may not agree with where his center is, but I think it’s there. While McCain shrugs and moves on when he takes one for the team and casts a vote he disagrees with, I get the sense Flake agonizes over his decisions and feels guilty when he makes a political calculation that goes against his better judgement and his moral fiber. So I say to Senator Flake, where does your conscience draw the line? How many people are you willing to hurt by cutting off their access to health care before you say enough? Please let us know.

This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2017.

17 replies on “Flake? McCain? What Is Your Healthcare Line In the Sand?”

  1. Senator McCain has a well crafted image of being a maverick. Unfortunately he has a history of squawking about some Republican policy he doesn’t like (torture for instance) and after getting a morsel tossed his way from his leadership he ultimately caves.

    So Senator, how about proving you’re a real maverick by standing up to McConnell and voting no on the BCRA?

  2. The CBO missed the ACA promises by 50 %. Why do we even use them? Health insurers actuarials could be within 5% of the real results. Why leave it up to politicians a second time?

  3. Both Senator McCain and Senator Flack need to look at the Health Care Coverage provided to them at Government expense…Second to None!!! Then ask themselves why ALL US Citizens should not be provided with the same Health Care Coverage…at Government expense. To do otherwise is Hypocrisy!!!

    Insurance Companies and the Health Care Industry should NOT profit from a Citizens necessity to seek Medical Assistance….Price Controls Must be in Place so as to control Government Expenditures.

  4. Neither of these guys will vote against the party line. Why? Because the right wing billionaires led by Charles and David Koch bought and paid for their loyalty. The Koch Brothers also have McSally and many of the other Republican rank and file aparchniks in their pant pockets throughout the Stateand throughout the Country. Until people realize that every single Republican television commercial and every single Republican vote is driven, not by the people, but by the payoffs from the radical right, there is no such thing as a “conscience”. Given the personal needs of their cadillac health care plans and their pensions for when they retire………there is no other defining reason to vote their so called “conscience”. The general population needs to turn off their television sets and get into the streets and take a stand against the “whores” in Congress who vote for our demise as a democratic Country. The only thing these people understand is a United front against their greed.

  5. According to the current Republican leadership, Americans only have a “right to life” in the womb, after that, life and death is a question of making the right choices, such as choosing to be born to wealthy parents, as opposed to feeling entitled to breath the same air as the wealthy simply because you are still alive.

  8. Francis, is the health industry the only industry that should be forced to work for free? Or is it your vision that we all just barter for what we need? And go to the government for the rest?

  9. You speak of Yourself and the Government as if they are separate entities, when, in that, they serve the same interest; namely the development of Citizens primarily through Public Education and Health Care; both should be provided at Public Expense and NOT through a “Free Market, Profit Based Economic System” where maximizing Profit and Salaries are the primary motivations and not First Rate Systems of Public Education and Health Care!

  10. So it is your belief that citizens can not self develop, but only develop and advance with government provided aid.

    The way you described the delivery system is eerily similar to how the VA operates. Was that in error?

    How would you have the government fund R&D for development of new procedures and pharmaceuticals, through tax increases? Do you ever see that pipeline failing? Or, does it bother you that “Americans” are 20 Trillion dollars in debt?

  12. I can’t help but think that if Congress and Federal Employees were required to participate in whatever plan they come up with….it would be a far better plan than is being developed for the masses. Maybe its time for us to change the song? One healthcare system for all….equal for all….

  15. This is one time I don’t blame McCain. What are you asking him to vote for? I can’t find anybody that knows what’s in the new Act. All I hear is hype and fear. is there anybody here that can actually tell us what is in the Bill?

    The author hasn’t, nor has anybody submitting articles to this publication.

  17. What’s in it? Look at who wrote it and try to imagine something good coming from them… I can’t. McCain and Flake are afraid to take a position ahead of time, like McSally, because their offices are already being picketed by ignored constituents and they don’t want to make it look worse. They want to pretend to be surprised by the public outcry. Mandatory? Isn’t that pretty much what all laws are?

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