What Went Down On Health Care This Week

Related to what I just wrote, I always thought that the most important part of this debate was not the policy details or Trump, but the driving opposition among conservative activists to “Obamacare” — even if parts of the law are popular. No Republican wants to be the person who stopped Obamacare repeal. That is playing out here. Some of these policies are quite ill-conceived. The idea that Congress should repeal Obamacare but have a two-year delay seems nuts. What gives you any confidence that Congress can work out a deal on Obamacare in two years? Forty-five senators voted for that, including some of the most serious, policy-minded members, like Bob Corker.

We now have 49 senators who have gone on the record and voted for an Obamacare repeal. That is important for them politically, since all but three Republicans in the Senate are from states that Trump won. (The exceptions are Collins in Maine, Gardner in Colorado and Heller in Nevada.) Heller, Collins and Murkowski are the holdouts.