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International League: SWB RailRiders’ Luis Cessa strong in win over Buffalo Bisons

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Geisinger buys properties in Kingston for planned expansion of services

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Like the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania&#8217;s two senators are on opposite sides in the GOP&#8217;s renewed effort to pass a health care bill.</p><p>Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell released his new reform proposal Thursday, bidding for conservative support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies and reaching for moderates with added billions to combat opioid abuse and help states rein in consumers&#8217; skyrocketing insurance costs, the Associated Press reported.</p><p>However, allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans threatens to alienate moderates and perhaps other conservatives. And the measure retains cuts in Medicaid &#8212; the health insurance plan for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients &#8212; that moderate Republican senators have fought.</p><p>The 172-page legislation, the Senate GOP&#8217;s plan for rolling back much of President Barack Obama&#8217;s health care law, faces a do-or-die vote next week on which McConnell has no margin for error.</p><p>Since Democrats uniformly oppose the effort, McConnell needs the votes of 50 of the 52 GOP senators to prevail, and two have already said they will vote &#8220;no&#8221; &#8212; conservative Rand Paul of Kentucky and moderate Susan Collins of Maine.</p><p>In Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said the revised Senate bill prevents Obamacare&#8217;s imminent collapse and retains essential reforms, putting Medicaid on a sustainable path.</p><p>&#8220;Fighting the scourge of opioid and heroin abuse remains a top priority of mine, and this draft directs another $45 billion to treat addiction,&#8221; Toomey said.</p><p>He noted additional changes to increase competition and choice in the individual insurance market will help to make coverage more affordable and accessible for the thousands of Pennsylvanians who have seen their premiums skyrocket under Obamacare.</p><p>&#8220;While I support this draft in its current form, it is not perfect,&#8221; Toomey said. &#8220;I am disappointed that the commitment to repeal all of Obamacare&#8217;s taxes was abandoned.&#8221;</p><p>Toomey said he will thoroughly examine the draft bill and welcome the thoughts of colleagues, constituents, and advocacy groups.</p><p><strong>Casey: &#8216;Still decimates Medicaid&#8217;</strong></p><p>Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, called the revised reform proposal &#8220;the new GOP health care scheme.&#8221; He said instead of working in a bipartisan way, Senate Republicans &#8220;have continued to meet in secret after the light of day showed their health care scheme to be a bad idea&#8221; for families and a bonanza for the super-rich.</p><p>&#8220;The latest version of this scheme does not change the fact that it still sells out the middle class, seniors, children and individuals with disabilities,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;Pennsylvania families will pay more for less health care coverage with fewer protections.&#8221;</p><p>Casey said the draft still includes an age tax which will cause workers in their 50s and 60s to pay more.</p><p>&#8220;The bill still decimates Medicaid, which will result in cuts to nursing home care, cuts to services for those with disabilities and an end to health care coverage for millions,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;In rural Pennsylvania alone, more than 100,000 people could lose coverage by 2018.&#8221;</p><p>Casey said the new Senate bill is more extreme than the last version because it includes a loophole to allow insurers to end protections for those with pre-existing conditions and end coverage of basic medical services like maternity care.</p><p>&#8220;The latest Senate scheme is still a bailout for special interests and big health care interests,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;This bill would cut insurance coverage for millions of Americans and cause middle class families to pay more.&#8221;</p><p>Casey went on to say the bill &#8220;pulls the rug out&#8221; from under those who need treatment for opioid addiction.</p><p>&#8220;Those suffering from addiction and their families need coverage and long term quality treatment, not some grant,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I will fight against this scheme with everything I have.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;Even meaner&#8217;</strong></p><p>&#8220;The new Republican Trumpcare bill is every bit as mean as the old one,&#8221; said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. He said the provision allowing scanty coverage makes it &#8220;even meaner.&#8221;</p><p>Conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has demanded language letting insurers sell plans with minimal coverage, as long as they also sell policies that meet strict coverage requirements set by Obama&#8217;s 2010 statute. Moderate Republicans have objected that the idea would make policies excessively costly for people with serious illnesses because healthy people would flock to the cheaper coverage.</p><p>A summary of the bill said some stripped-down policies would cover three primary care visits per year and limit out-of-pocket costs, and consumers could use federal tax credits to help pay for them.</p><p>The retooled measure retains McConnell&#8217;s plan to phase out the extra money 31 states have used to expand Medicaid under Obama&#8217;s statute, and to tightly limit the overall program&#8217;s future growth.</p><p>The rewritten package would add $70 billion to the $112 billion McConnell originally sought that states could use to help insurers curb the growth of premiums and consumers&#8217; other out-of-pocket costs.</p><p>It has an added $45 billion for states to combat the misuse of drugs like opioids. That&#8217;s a boost over the $2 billion in the initial bill and an addition demanded by Republicans from states in the Midwest and Northeast that have been ravaged by drug abuse.</p><p>To help pay for the added spending, the measure would retain three tax increases Obama&#8217;s law slapped on higher-earning people to help finance his law&#8217;s expansion of coverage.</p><p>The measure would eliminate other tax boosts Obama levied on insurers, pharmaceutical producers and other health industry companies.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Casey </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_CaseyMug.cmyk_-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Casey </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle. The Associated Press contributed to this story.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Revised GOP health bill faces do-or-die vote next week