Parliamentarian says Senate health bill's provisions violate Byrd rule, require 60 votes

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Rebecca Shabad‏ @RebeccaShabad
JUST IN: Senate parliamentarian says additional provisions of the original BCRA violate the Byrd Rule, require 60 votes, per Bernie Sanders



Matt O'Brien‏ @ObsoleteDogma 13m13 minutes ago
Both the House & Senate GOP wanted to be able to charge older people 5X as much as young ones, instead of 3X. They can’t without 60 votes.


Rebecca Shabad‏ @RebeccaShabad 3m3 minutes ago
Here's my story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-parliamentarian-says-more-bcra-provisions-would-require-60-votes/

The provisions of the original Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) that violate the rule under the budget reconciliation process were disclosed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.

The provisions that violate the rule and would require 60 votes are:

Change in Permissible Age Variation in Health Insurance Premium Rates ('Age Tax') - Sanders' office said this section would allow insurers to charge older Americans at least five times more than what they charge younger individuals.

Small Business Health Plans - Sanders' office said this section would allow small businesses to establish "association health plans" that could be sold across state lines. These plans would be treated as part of the large group market, his office said, and thus would be exempt from many ACA requirements such as covering essential health benefits.

The Senate parliamentarian, by contrast, determined that the flexible Medicaid block grant option for states would not violate the rule and therefore would only require 51 votes.

Waivers for state innovation, also known as Essential Health Benefits, are still under review, according to Sanders' office.

Last Friday, the parliamentarian determined that a number of major provisions of the original BCRA bill would also violate the "Byrd Rule" and require 60 votes.

read: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-parliamentarian-says-more-bcra-provisions-would-require-60-votes/

[Gothmog]

1. Republican leaders just made a hugely important concession on the Senate health bill

The 60 votes will come into play when they try to cut off debate to end a filibuster. Reconciliation rules do not apply to either of the bills under consideration https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/25/16025636/senate-health-bill-bcra-60-votes

Senate Republican leaders have reportedly concluded that their particular version of the health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, will need 60 votes to pass under Senate rules — essentially ensuring that that particular version of the bill cannot pass this week.

But importantly, it still remains possible that Republicans can pass something — the repeal-and-delay bill (the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act), the House bill (the American Health Care Act), or some kind of stripped-down “skinny” repeal — with a bare majority under the reconciliation process.

The problem, as Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News reported Tuesday morning, is that two major recent changes to Senate leaders’ bill — an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz on insurance market regulation, and an amendment by Sen. Rob Portman on Medicaid — have not yet been scored by the Congressional Budget Office.

The lack of a CBO score means that we don’t know the budgetary implications for the newest version of the BCRA, and therefore, it doesn’t pass muster under the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules that allow certain measures to pass with just a majority vote.

[Demsrule86]

2. I don't think they get enough votes on Repeal or the house bill.

[Alhena]

3. Sounds like the Repukes just wanted a dog and pony show today

to show they can do *something* - even a meaningless procedural victory.

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4. kick

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