Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins seems to be playing politics with whether or not she's going to help her party take health care coverage away from millions of Americans, and continued to hedge on whether she's going to vote for their latest ACA repeal bill:
Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday morning that it would be "very difficult for me to envision a scenario" where she would vote for Republicans' latest plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, but the Maine Republican said she wanted to wait for a Congressional Budget Office score of the Graham-Cassidy bill before rendering a final decision.
"It's very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill," Collins told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of The Union." "What I am doing, as is my general practice, is I would like to see the Congressional Budget Office analysis, which is expected to come out tomorrow morning." [...]
As she has done repeatedly in recent days, Collins was sharply critical of the bill Sunday, saying, "I have a number of very serious reservations about it."
"I'm concerned about the impact on cost and coverage," she said. "We already have a problem under the Affordable Care act with the cost of premiums and deductibles, and finally, I'm very concerned about the erosion of protections for people with pre-existing conditions."
Collins' comments were consistent with what she told reporters Friday that she was "leaning against" the bill, according to The Portland Press Herald.
Collins' concerns over Graham-Cassidy have ranged across a host of issues, including the way the bill would end Obamacare subsidies and Medicaid expansion, and instead give states a set amount of funding through block grants. Collins has said that she fears Graham-Cassidy might also take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions if insurers in certain states are allowed to charge more based on a person's health history.
"I'm reading the fine print on Graham-Cassidy," Collins said, according to the Press Herald. "The premiums would be so high they would be unaffordable."
Republicans have been desperate to make one last push to repeal Obamacare, but so far signs point to a reality where the party may not be successful once again. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence met with Maine's own governor, Paul LePage, in Washington to discuss the Republican agenda, but also to add pressure to Collins. There's little evidence it has made a difference.
Her party has been terrorizing millions of Americans every time they come close to passing another one of these horrid bills. Collins should commit one way or the other and stop playing this game with people's lives.
