I’m not a doctor, but I’d be surprised if John McCain’s recent confused public behavior wasn’t in some way related to the five centimeter blood clot that was found above his left eye. At a minimum, I suspect the clot was discovered because McCain wisely sought expert medical opinion on why he was acting so strangely. With any luck, the procedure that removed the clot will also solve the problem he’s been having with lucidity.
Based on the speculation I’ve seen from doctors (who aren’t treating McCain), it might be a little longer than a week before he’s able to return to work in the Senate. Mitch McConnell is putting his health care bill on hold until McCain returns, which is interesting because McCain isn’t even a definite yes vote on a motion to proceed to the bill. Last week, I cited a Washington Post roll call that was listing him as a ‘no.’ I also noted that McCain can’t be trusted to block the bill even if he makes indications that would lead you to think he’s not on board.
On Thursday, McCain released a statement that could be taken two ways. On the one hand, it’s clear that he hates the bill. On the other hand, what’s he proposing to do is fix it in the amendment process which would indicate that he’s inclined to let McConnell bring the bill to the floor.
He was in surgery shortly after releasing the statement, so I don’t know that it represents his best thinking. But here’s what he said:
In a written statement, McCain, R-Ariz., vowed to champion amendments that he is authoring in consultation with Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and others from Arizona, provided the bill makes it to the Senate floor.
“Arizona has been nationally recognized for running one of the most efficient and cost-effective Medicaid programs in the country,” McCain said. “This legislation should reward states like Arizona that are responsibly managing their health-care services and controlling costs — not penalize them.”
That might sound good, but it looks a little less robust in detail:
McCain wants to give Arizona and the other 30 [Medicaid] expansion states more time to adapt their budgets to the loss of federal money and prevent an abrupt loss of coverage for the 14 million Americans nationwide who benefit from the expanded program.
He also wants to alter the Medicaid growth rate in a way that he says would protect Arizona.
McCain further doesn’t want to see the state pay a price for having passed Proposition 204, a pre-Obamacare, voter-approved decision in 2000 to boost the number of people eligible for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the official name of Arizona’s Medicaid agency.
Assuming for the sake of argument that McCain votes to let the bill come to the floor and that it does in fact come to the floor, it’s likely that McCain can pass amendments to address these concerns if the Democrats are willing to support him. Depending on details, the passage of these amendments could help the bill pass or derail the entire effort. Likewise, a failure to pass these amendments could cause a loss of support for the bill from McCain and some of the nineteen other Republican senators from Medicaid expansion states. Or, it could be that they’ll be contented to have the vote even if it doesn’t pass.
A week ago, McCain all but declared the health care bill effort dead. And he’s prepared to take a completely different approach.
McCain said in his written statement. “But if we are not able to reach a consensus, the Senate should return to regular order, hold hearings and receive input from senators of both parties, and produce a bill that finally provides Americans with access to affordable and quality health care.”
Obviously, some have interpreted his remarks as indicators that he’ll block the bill from coming to the floor, but he doesn’t seem to have ever said that in a clear and decisive way. And, as I’ve noted, he’s been operating with a sporadic loss of lucidity lately.
As he convalesces from his surgery, he’ll have some time to figure out what he plans to do. He can kill this bill in a variety of ways. He can kill it in the crib by voting against bringing it to the floor. He can push through amendments that protect Medicaid but cause a loss of support for the bill from the right. He can vote against final passage if his amendments fail.
I have no idea what he thinks the best course for him will be, but his brush with mortality ought to have reminded him about the importance of access to live-saving health care. It might have focused him on meeting his maker, too, which depending on his beliefs could change how he views this vote.
Maybe the doctors who are caring for him might have a few ideas on the matter, too, which could influence him.
All we know for sure right now is that the whole thing will be delayed until McCain is available to vote.
Memory problems, difficulty staying focused, irritability – McCain’s recent behavior issues certainly sound like frontal lobe problems, so it’s not just that he’s been having issues but the kinds of issues you get from frontal lobe malfunction. If it was indeed a subdural hematoma, the prognosis for McConnell’s monstrosity is poor because here’s the NHS on recovery:
I hope Senator McCain has a full recovery allowing him to fulfill his oath of office by helping kill that horrible bill.
He just might resign for Medical reasons and let Governor Ducey, known 0.1%’er pick his replacement.
It seems crystal clear the perfect irony of a Senator, protected and unconcerned about receiving robust health care, waiting after successful surgery in a good hospital to vote for a health care bill that could take away that type of coverage for millions of Americans, including his own constituents.
Get well soon, Senator, and vote against this monstrosity of a bill.
I hope that irony is not lost on McCain. What’s truly sad is most Americans even today would not experience treatment and care as McCain apparently is for the same or similar issue. Either because they have no insurance at all, have plans with high deductibles or other upfront financial exposure that limit the care they can receive.
Even though the ACA made great strides in addressing the issue of access to care being dependent on ability to pay potentially enormous sums out of pocket, it hasn’t completely resolved it. Hospitals are still being run as businesses rather than health care and treatment providers. And its not altogether the fault of the hospitals when it takes so much money to operate without a level of government support or regulation, that would limit the coat of health care. Which is why most other nations don’t approach health care the way we do; its simply not cost effective.
Every day decisions are routinely made whether to provide treatment due to the real or potential financial impact to the hospital. I think of friends or relatives and others I have either personally known or have heard of who were sent home from the hospital with essentially a death sentence, with the conclusion that, “there is nothing else that can be done for them” and can’t help but wonder, was this because some treatment that might have saved or extended their lives would not be given because of cost?
I have a daughter who just became an RN, and she calls us routinely with stories of patients being “transferred” to other hospitals to avoid providing surgery or some other costly care, knowing full well that such transfers could cost the life of the patient.
It just boggles my mind the moral blindspot we have as a society that we’re even “debating” whether health care is a right or a privilege of those with the wealth to pay for it.
Daughter of a friend had the same problem. She had colon cancer and they moved her to at least three hospitals for some “better” care, until she died. She was poor.
It is a moral matter we face. Taxes are apparently so important to a segment of our population they would let people die to save more tax money for whatever greed they can imagine.
And it is more than that. We spend twice what other industrialized societies pay. It is just possible the savings alone on single payer would pay for it, no tax increases. Yet, we do not even think of it. We, instead, choose as a society to go chasing after a few votes to keep the shitty insurance we have and never see the foolishness of it all.
Yes, its that bad. This bill as is will literally condemn some people to death, just so that a tiny slice of society can receive what will be for them an insignificant amount of dollars in a tax cut. I could almost understand (although I still would not accept in this case) a level of justification if there were some measurable greater good.
But notice how this time, they’re not even bothering with their usual trickle down nonsense, that the ACA tax cuts will “produce jobs.” And that’s because this is about an obsession they’ve had for the last eight years: destroying a signature achievement of Obama. And now that their goal is in sight, that’s all the justification they need. Getting rid of Obamacare is their justification, and lives, including those of their own gullible supporters, be damned.
saying these are evil, monstrous people.
The “obsession” is much older than eight years. It goes all the way back to 1933. To be a Republican, one opposes every component and subsequent add on to the New Deal. In the GOP perfect world, there would be no labor laws, including no unionization and minimum wage law, no regulation of commercial theft regardless of the significant harm it does to the general public, no social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA.
The lot of you can stop with the McCain worship.
McCain will vote Republican – or whatever McConnell wants. Always has and always will.
A thousand times this. Sheesh, how many times do Dems act like Charlie Brown kicking the football Lucy is holding only to find out, SHOCKINGLY! I say, that the football is pulled away at the last minute?
McCain and media-labeled “moderate” Republicans will do what they always do: cave.
The only way Gramps McCain and the “moderates” will ever vote against something like this is if McConnell already has enough votes lined up to give them the chance to make a symbolic vote which will again dupe the Villagers into believing their labels.
It’s not the third “no” that matters. It’s the fourth. No one wants to be the killer of the bill and cross McConnell alone. Behind the scenes a few have to go to McConnell and say privately that they won’t support the motion to proceed. McCain can give that message through Graham if he has to. Meanwhile, McConnell can use McCain as a handy excuse to delay, to give everyone back their full August recess, and to move on to other business. And it’s an excuse for the Republicans to go home with this deus ex machina as their own excuse for not “repealing and replacing.” They can say to constituents: “we have to wait for John to get better.” BS.
If that’s what it takes to kill the bill, so be it.
. . . Davis X Machina’s handle there.
McCain is a very poor bet for a no vote on anything the party brings to the floor, unless it’s a vote to cut military involvement or spending somewhere. In other news, what is so good about Arizona Medicaid or is that simply another of his tribal cries?
Also, why would the democrats support anything? Do they want to softly let it go and then try to blame the other bad guys. You know the ones across the aisle,.
I’m sure there are some Tom-Daschle-style Democrats who are thinking, “Come on, this is our big chance to fix the ACA!”
Well, wouldn’t one strategy be to amend it in such a way that it becomes toxic to the conservatives, and then vote against the bill as amended?
except the bastards would likely vote for it.
Pretty sure this bill is stalled for a long time and, considering that “tax reform” aka cuts for the wealthy depended upon gutting the ACA and Medicaid, it’s not clear that’s going to happen for a long time either. That means we’re talking about the debt ceiling fight and the wretched FY 18 budget.
And it’s dead! Kaput! Joined the choir invisible!
Moran of Kansas and Lee of Utah just announced they can’t support McConnell’s bill!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/17/politics/health-care-motion-to-proceed-jerry-moran-mike-lee/index.html
So happy! We must remain diligent because McConnell could try another slightly less socopathic approach which would be more viable, but we’ve got a win for the time being, and the legislative calendar does start working against the Republicans soon.
Good news! We dodged a bullet. The Rs may be out of ammo on this one. Not much time for them to take another shot.
The only numbers important to McCain. His approval and disapproval numbers. The AZ Senate delegation is leading the pack:
McCain – approval 43%; disapproval 47%
Flake – approval 37%; disapproval 45%
McConnell beats both of them with an approval rating of 41% and disapproval of 48%. However, he doesn’t sweat his approval numbers because they’ve always been low and at election time he always wins.
Leading the pack with a net approval of plus 54% is … Following him by a few points at net 48 and net 44 are respectively Schatz and Hirono. But HI senators have always scored high on approval. Interesting is the number of senators below 50% approval that were reelected in 2016. An illustration of can’t be something with nothing.
The real people’s choice: None Of The Above.
https:/www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/5oegsd/if_did_not_vote_was_a_candidate_in_2016_an
A bit of a fallacy because “none of the above” isn’t equivalent to “not voting.” Given the option of “none of the above,” non-voters are, at best, only slightly more inclined to show up and cast a null vote. Check out Nevada which does have a “none” option. In the 2016 presidential election, none garnered 2.56%, but the GRN party didn’t qualify; so, some of those votes would have gone there. In the Senate election, more people opted for none (3.81%), but seventeen thousand skipped that ballot line. In total, seventeen thousand that could see their way to vote for HRC didn’t vote for Cortez Masto, and seventeen thousand that showed up for Trump passed on Heck.
A bit, but closer IMHO than the conventional “they don’t care who is elected” or “they are too lazy” or “the barriers to voting are too high.”
I think much closer to the truth is “Who cares? They are all crooks anyway” and “Who cares? They are all the same”. My wife wouldn’t vote if I didn’t. Her attitude is a very Chicago “It’s all fixed anyway.” Maybe she’s right. And maybe the others are too.
If you are not going to vote for anybody, why bother showing up? And the Chicago corollary, “If you leave anything blank, they will fill it in after hours.”
That may be why people wait patiently in line for a touchscreen while paper ballot booths are immediately available. I used a touch screen once for early voting. In early voting here, we must use the touchscreen. It was not any easier than filling in an arrow with a pen.
A paper ballot may be easy to fake, but a computer program is even easier to fudge. What was it? Ten minutes to swap a ROM starting with the machine all screwed together? Not to mention hanky-panky in the software at the receiving end of the radio transmission.
Might as well have internet voting.
Because in some places (excluding places like Chicago) “null” or “none of the above” gets counted and therefore, it more difficult for TPTB to dismiss as “not engaged” or “doesn’t care.”
In France, the blank ballots and null ballots are counted and included in the turnout figures. In the 2017 first round, those were 1.78% and 0.78% respectively. In the final round, they were 8.52% and 3%. Abstentions (not voting) also increased by 3.2% between the first and second round.
Yes, but we were talking about the USA and the graph was specifically Presidential.