The Republicans led by Speaker Paul Ryan planned to bring the proposed American Health Care Act to a vote in the House of Representatives yesterday. Before the day was over, it was obvious that there would not be enough yes votes to pass it, so Ryan withdrew it from consideration.
President Trump had endorsed it, and threatened repercussions to Republicans who would vote against it. Every Democrat was expected to vote no. There were several reasons for the expected no votes. A big one was less federal money to the states for Medicaid (block grants rather a percent of Medicaid spending to the states*). Health care providers do not like their revenues reduced, nor do many people want to see less money available to give health care to poorer folk.
This was a big setback for both the Congress and Trump. The President's alleged deal-making skills failed.
* The federal government paid for 62.8% of Medicaid spending in 2015. Obamacare enabled a higher percent (100% initially) of spending for newly-enrolled people to states that expanded Medicaid. Here is a short quiz about Medicaid from the Kaiser Foundation.
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