Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced on June 27 that the Senate will delay the Affordable Care Act repeal and replace vote until after the July 4 Congressional recess.  The bill included deep Medicaid cuts that would be catastrophic to the already-underfunded long term care profession and threaten the quality care provided to residents. Read AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson’s message about the latest developments and his call to keep up your outreach efforts.  As he notes, “We can’t count on anyone else to protect us.”

June 27, 2017

By now, you’ve probably heard that Senator McConnell announced this afternoon [June 27, 2017] that the Senate will delay the repeal and replace vote until after the July 4 recess. This announcement occurred after additional Republican Senators, most notably Senator Collins from Maine, announced that they were opposed to the bill. In fact, they indicated they would vote against the procedural motion to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

Immediately after that announcement, three additional Republican Senators (Moran from Kansas, Capito from West Virginia, and Portman from Ohio) issued press releases opposing the Senate bill. While this was not surprising news from Senators Portman and Capito, many were surprised by Moran’s announcement. I was not. I’ve known Jerry my entire adult life and I knew he would do what was best for Kansas. 

While we are encouraged by these developments, this challenge is not over. We all remember that the House also failed in its initial attempts to pass repeal and replace. Then, just six weeks later, it passed a repeal and replace bill. The Senate can do the same.

For that reason, we must continue to work on this issue. Your advocacy efforts over the past few days have made a difference. The Senate is taking time to consider our input. We have proven that we can be effective when we all work together.

We Still Need You to Act

We can’t count on anyone else to protect us. To ensure our success, we need you to keep up your outreach efforts.  

1. If your Senator has announced they are against the bill, please send them an email to thank them.  [NB: Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine both opposed the bill.]
2. It’s important to call House Republican members. Use the talking points we have developed specifically for your state. Keep explaining the devastating impacts this legislation would have.  If the Senate does pass a bill, it will then come back to the House for a vote. The House members need to know that the Senate bill is much worse for us than the House version of repeal and replace. [NB:  Phone numbers for Virginia’s House Republicans included below.]
3. Finally, please be sure to register for our online advocacy system through this link.

We’ve won the first round of what could be a very long fight. Now, let’s increase the pressure for round two and beyond. Thanks so much for all you are doing.

Mark Parkinson
President & CEO
AHCA/NCAL

Additional Resources

Phone Numbers for House Republican Members

• Rob Wittman, 202-225-4261
• Scott Taylor, 202-225-4215
• Tom Garrett, 202-225-4711
• Bob Goodlatte, 202-225-5431
• Dave Brat, 202-225-2815
• Morgan Griffith, 202-225-3861
• Barbara Comstock, 202-225-5136