Sen. John McCain Might've Killed The Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill By Announcing His Opposition

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Arizona Senator John McCain made the much-anticipated announcement about where he stood on the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill that has widely seen as the final attempt to repeathe Affordable Care Act (ACA) by Senate Republicans. In a tweet accompanying his statement, he said that he could not "in good conscience" vote for the bill and urged lawmakers to take "a bipartisan approach" to developing a solution that impacting so many people. 

As previously reported, the controversial bill —sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Ron Johnson and Dean Heller —  would look to replace ACA’s tax subsidies with block grants, stop the individual insurance mandate, scale back its Medicaid expansion and allow states to fund health insurance programs outside of ACA mandates. 

For McCain, the issue is less the content of the bill, but moreso with the process of getting it passed — echoing his previous sentiments during the voting process for the Better Care Reconciliation Act.

“As I have repeatedly stressed, health care reform legislation ought to be the product of regular order in the Senate. Committees of jurisdiction should mark up legislation with input from all committee members, and send their bill to the floor for debate and amendment," McCain said. "That is the only way we might achieve bipartisan consensus on lasting reform, without which a policy that affects one-fifth of our economy and every single American family will be subject to reversal with every change of administration and congressional majority."

McCain said that he might've been open to supporting legislation similar to what Senators Graham and Cassidy put together "were it the product of extensive hearings, debate and amendment." However, he said that as that wasn't the case—and the pressure of the September 30 budget reconciliation deadline has played such a powerful role — that he was forced to pull back.

“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," McCain said. "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."

As one of the four remaining GOP senators who were undecided on the bill, McCain's vote was crucial to its survival. However, his refusal to support the bill puts him alongside Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, Maine Senator Susan Collins and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul who were up in the air. 

While the aforementioned Senators' reasons are primarily political, it does help that the healthcare industry isn't wild about the bill either: McCain's announcement also follows a letter from all 50 State Medicaid directors opposing the bill. 

While this may just signal the end of the Graham-Cassidy Bill in its current form, it remains to be seen what any potential bipartisan solutions to the national healthcare debate might look like.