With less than ten days until the government shuts down unless Congress can figure out a way to keep funding it, Republicans seem to think the smart thing to do with their time is re-open the debate over repealing Obamacare. Matt Fuller has the scoop on a deal between the head of the Freedom Caucus and a moderate Republican, New Jersey's Tom MacArthur.
There are reasons to suspect this deal can't turn into a reality: it would allow states to strip protections for people who have pre-existing conditions, and instead create "high-risk pools" for them. If these pools were fully funded, there's nothing objectionable in principle about them -- after all, Medicare is basically a kind of high-risk pool -- but the Republican plan doesn't fund them adequately, and the history of high-risk pools in this country is that they are chronically short of cash and, kicking people out and raising premiums. And so despite the support of MacArthur, it's doubtful this is something most moderate Republicans could support, especially with all the grassroots pressure they're under at home. The strong Democratic showings in special elections plays a big role in this fear they're feeling.
The broader deal on offer here is a curious one: to basically leave the Affordable Care Act in place in states that want it, but let other states get rid of it. It's a strange vision, but merely an amplification of the one we currently have: if you're poor or sick or struggling in a red state, you're screwed. If you happen to live in a different state, you have some basic level of support.
Covering the Georgia special election this week, the thing that jumped out to me right away was the overwhelming gender disparity in the activism. There were definitely some men involved, but the Ossoff campaign seemed driven almost entirely by women volunteers. It appears it's something Ossoff noticed, too, and Laura Bassett has a story about him credited women for his surprisingly strong showing.
And as regular readers of this email know, I've been banging the drum about the Montana special election and the refusal of national Democrats to pay attention to it. In a recent interview with me, Bernie Sanders offered to travel out there and campaign for Rob Quist if Quist wanted him, and now it's going to happen. Story here.
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