How 2 Republicans Ended Up At Odds With Their Party On Health Care

Jennifer Bendery
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is mobbed by reporters who know she's not a fan of her party's Obamacare repeal bills. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is mobbed by reporters who know she's not a fan of her party's Obamacare repeal bills. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

WASHINGTON ― Senate Republican leaders can’t seem to find the votes to repeal and replace Obamacare. They’ve had no help from Democrats, of course, who oppose what they’re doing and haven’t been consulted anyway. But they’ve also had no help from two senators in their own party: Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Collins and Paul have been a hard no on both of the GOP health care bills unveiled over the last month. That’s made things exceptionally difficult for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who can afford to lose only two Republican votes. It’s left his latest Obamacare repeal bill hanging by a thread, as a handful of Republicans on the fence threaten to produce the fatal third vote.

They’re an unlikely pair to ended up united against their party on something. Collins is a pro-abortion rights moderate from a state that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton carried in 2016; Paul is a libertarian-leaning conservative who regularly rails against big government. But their different ideologies explain why they are so opposed to what GOP leaders are doing.

The thrust of Collins’ concern is that Republicans are trying to repeal too much of the Affordable Care Act, to the point where people will get hurt. The GOP’s latest bill, which was released Thursday, would cut overall Medicaid funding by more than 30 percent and eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of that program. That would mean millions fewer people would have access to Medicaid, namely low-income and elderly people.

Collins wasted little time announcing her opposition to the bill and instead urged her colleagues to change course and work on a bipartisan fix to Obamacare.

Collins also has problems with the sheer number of people who would lose health care coverage under the bill and the plan’s negative effect on health care access in rural areas.

The Congressional Budget Office hasn’t yet released its estimates on the revision of the health care bill, but under the original Senate version, which isn’t that different from the new one, roughly 22 million people would lose coverage.

(Photo: Susan Collins)
(Photo: Susan Collins)

Paul, meanwhile, argues that the GOP health care bills wouldn’t repeal enough of the Affordable Care Act. He’s complained all year about Republicans leaving too much of the law intact, and, when GOP leaders unveiled their initial health care bill in June, he ripped it as too expensive and doomed to fail.

“The bill is just being lit up like a Christmas tree full of billion-dollar ornaments, and it’s not repeal,” Paul fumed in a Fox News Sunday interview earlier this month.

“Now the Republicans are getting so weak-kneed they’re saying, ‘Oh, we’re afraid to repeal the taxes,’” he continued. “What happened to these people? They all were for repealing Obamacare. Now there’s virtually no one left.”

The Kentucky senator is even less happy with the revised health care bill, which includes new insurance deregulation provisions. The language was added to win support from conservatives, but it comes with more federal spending ― a big no-no for Paul, who fundamentally disagrees with the idea of the government subsidizing health care.

He aired his grievances in a Thursday op-ed in The Washington Times, headlined “Crony Capitalism Isn’t a Right, So Why Does Senate Healthcare Bill Give Insurance Companies the Right to a Bailout?”

“I really can’t describe my level of disappointment,” Paul wrote. “Crony capitalism is enshrined as a ‘right’ by the new GOP Obamacare bill, while that bill does little to nothing to repeal Obamacare or fix our ailing healthcare sector.”

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1912

Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.
Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.

1935

President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first.

1942

Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.
Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.

1945

President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere.
President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere.

1960

John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.
John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.

1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.
President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

1974

President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.
President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.

1976

President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside.
President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside.

1986

President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.
President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.

1988

Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.
Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.

1993

President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate.

1997

Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. 
Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. 

2003

President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.
President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.

2008

Hillary Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Barack Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan.
Hillary Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Barack Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan.

2009

President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance.
President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance.

2010

With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare."
With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare."

2012

On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care."
On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care."

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.