King, Collins split as U.S. Senate advances ACA's repeal

Courtesy / Office of Sen. Angus King U.S. Sen. Angus King, shown on the Senate floor, joined Democrats in an unsuccessful first vote to block the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Write a Comment

In a 51-48 vote early Thursday morning, the Republican-led U.S. Senate approved a budget resolution that facilitates repealing much of the Affordable Care Act through a process known as budget reconciliation.

The resolution now goes to the House, where the GOP also holds a majority, and is expected to be approved by the end of this week.

The New York Times reported that the approved measure instructs House and Senate committees to come up with repeal legislation by Jan. 27.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Democrats in opposing the budget resolution, while U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined fellow Republicans in supporting the measure, according to the roll call tally of the vote.

King issued the following statement about the vote: “The Senate has made a serious mistake tonight. The repeal of the Affordable Care Act, without a credible replacement, will have disastrous consequences for tens of thousands of people in Maine and millions more across the country. Not only will it strip more than 75,000 Mainers of their health insurance — some of whom were never able to afford it before or who were denied it because of a pre-existing condition — but it will also substantially harm rural hospitals across the state, making health care that much harder to get. It doesn’t make any sense, and I’m deeply concerned that it will jeopardize people’s lives. I will continue to look for every opportunity to fight this bad bill, and I also continue to hope that my colleagues will abandon this misguided push and, instead, put politics aside and work together to fix the law.”

In a Wednesday press conference, President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to replace the ACA soon after he takes office and his Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Pierce is confirmed, according to Business Insider.

King amendment defeated

King’s office also noted that the Senate failed to pass his proposed amendment that would have protected access to affordable health insurance for “people in Maine who work in higher risk, and more often than not, rural jobs, such as forestry, farming, fishing or public safety.” The measure failed in a 50-48 vote.

Consumers for Affordable Health Care, a Maine nonprofit based in Augusta, issued a study Jan. 11 showing that more than 19,000 Maine residents could lose access to mental health services if Congress repeals the ACA.

The analysis, based on data from Harvard Medical School and New York University, showed that 19,232 Mainers suffering from mental illness or substance use disorder will lose access to critical mental health services made available by the ACA. The authors of the study, Harvard Medical School Health Economics Professor Richard Frank and New York University Dean Sherry Glied, wrote in an op-ed on the study that appeared Jan. 11 in The Hill.

"From Portland to Bangor to Presque Isle, the opioid epidemic is devastating families throughout Maine. Mothers, fathers, and children are losing their lives to addiction, but Congress's plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement would leave them in the cold, without access to the treatment they need," said Emily Brostek, executive director of CAHC. "Maine people are relying on the clearheaded leadership of Sens. Collins and King. We ask them to think of these families before taking any vote to repeal without a replacement."