Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General GOP at war with itself on health care

But many fellow Republicans don’t seem to be listening.

On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the GOP health bill was launched, a powerful conservative backlash threatened to sink it.

An interesting question about the Republicans’ rollout of their Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan was bubbling up among pundits and policy journalists on Tuesday. That question can be summed up this way: What the hell are GOP leaders doing?

The question stems from the very vocal opposition to the plan that sprang up the minute Republicans in the House released their bill on Monday night — not opposition from Democrats, which was to be expected. No, the loudest hostility came from Republican lawmakers, pundits and conservative-leaning think tanks like Heritage, Cato and others.

With any normal piece of legislation, the majority party could be expected to get a “buy-in” from all the “stakeholders” before writing and unveiling the bill. With something as large as repealing and replacing Obamacare, the majority party wants to present a united front, to signal to voters that it’s in control.

The idiot-ological differences preclude any hope of compromise. Conservatives believe some magical pixie powder will allow the free market do what it's never been able to do i.e. through free market sentience figure out what the public needs and provide the solution (universal healthcare).

Let conservatives own it.

Whatever happens though will be blamed on the Democrats with the con base believing it.

A senior Medicaid official broke with his own department Wednesday and came out publicly against the GOP’s bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Andrey Ostrovsky, the chief medical officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), announced in a Twitter post that he was opposed to the Republican bill pending in the House. CMCS is a division within the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Tom Price, a former Republican congressman, is the Trump administration's point person on Obamacare repeal and replace.

"Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with the experts from [American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association] in opposition to #AHCA," Andrey Ostrovsky, chief medical officer for The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), wrote on Twitter.

Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with the experts from @aafp @AmerAcadPeds @AmerMedicalAssn in opposition to #AHCA

— Andrey Ostrovsky, MD (@AndreyOstrovsky) March 9, 2017

Ostrovsky, an Obama appointee who assumed his role in September 2016, joins associations representing hospitals, doctors, seniors and insurers who have criticized the bill this week. Like Democrats and moderate conservatives who oppose the legislation, those groups say the proposal provides low-income and aging Americans with much fewer protections than they had under Obamacare.


Andy Slavitt, who ran the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services under Obama and has heavily criticized the GOP bill, praised Ostrovsky as a “hero” on Twitter.

We should have a ton of admiration for @AndreyOstrovsky and what he did tonight.

In my book he's a hero. In his he just serves the public. https://t.co/f3UKTq6P1E

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 9, 2017

Ostrovsky thanked him for his support, noting that the AHCA fails to offer "rigor of evidence" for the drastic changes it makes to the Medicaid program.

@ASlavitt Thx Andy. I was hired to add rigor of evidence, introduce innovation, improvement principles to Medicaid. Current #AHCA not that.

— Andrey Ostrovsky, MD (@AndreyOstrovsky) March 9, 2017