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Thursday, May 11, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

Michigan congressman helps pass health care bill

By ANDREW HIYAMA

Summer Daily News Editor

Following 
the 
revisions 
of 

Congressman Fred Upton (R–Mich.), 
the American Health Care Act — 
the Republican Party’s proposal to 

repeal the Obama administration’s 
Affordable Care Act — passed the 
House of Representatives with 217 
“yes” votes, barely clearing the 216 it 
needed. It now heads to the Senate, 
where it will need a simple majority 
to pass.

Although Upton announced his 

opposition to the bill Tuesday, he 
announced Wednesday he would 
be supporting the bill as well as 
attempting to gather further support 
and offering revisions to make it more 
palatable to moderate Republicans 
like himself.

The original GOP bill would 

have made federal waivers to ACA 
insurance protections available to the 
states, allowing insurers to charge 
higher premiums for people who have 
pre-existing health conditions and let 
their insurance coverage lapse. The 
ACA prohibits higher premiums for 
people with pre-existing conditions 
in all cases.

The GOP bill proved widely 

unpopular leading up to the vote, 
polling at 17 percent approval 
nationally. An attempt to bring the bill 
to a vote in March was halted when it 
became clear it would not pass.

The revision Upton proposed to the 

GOP bill, however, added $8 billion 
over five years to “high risk pools” 
intended to aid individuals affected 
by the higher premiums. Both the 
revised and original versions provide 
for a $130 billion general fund for 
states to use for whatever problems 
may arise with the plan.

Many students on campus did not 

find advantages to the bill, like recent 
University graduate Juyeon Ha.

“I know that one of the reasons 

they wanted to pass this bill was 
to decrease premiums, but I don’t 
think they’re going to do that at 
all — especially for people with 
pre-existing conditions,” she said. 
“That’s my biggest concerns honestly, 
because I think that was one of the 
biggest successes of Obamacare.”

She said she isn’t sure how aware 

people are of the contents of the bill.

“I don’t really know if people are 

aware that this is happening — that 
they’re trying to repeal that part of 
Obamacare,” she said. “I think it’s 
kind of written in fine print, which 
I think is unfortunate. Hopefully it 
doesn’t pass the Senate.”

Prior to Wednesday, Upton was 

the only Michigan Republican in 
Congress opposing the bill apart 
from Rep. Justin Amash (R– Mich.), 
who was still undecided. Amash 
opposed an earlier version of the 
bill, saying it didn’t go far enough 
in repealing the ACA. Upton’s 
revision, though, has drawn the 
support of three other House 
Republicans previously opposing 
the bill, putting it narrowly over 
the margin it needs to pass. Amash 
ultimately was one of those who 
voted for the bill.

Upton’s reversal has come under 

fire from Democrats in the state. In 
a statement, Michigan Democratic 
Party Chair Brandon Dillon said 
the move was hypocritical of 
Upton, pointing out Upton’s recent 
statement that “more money does 
not do the trick” to provide relief 
to individuals with pre-existing 

conditions.

“Donald 
Trump 
must 
have 

promised Fred Upton that being 
heartless and spineless won’t be 
considered pre-existing conditions 
under Trumpcare,” Dillon said.

LSA senior Candace Miller said 

the bill’s passage points to a lack 
of understanding about universal 
health care, particularly because it 
only appeals to a certain class.

“I think it’s kind of shocking 

that people don’t fully understand 
what ‘healthcare for everyone’ 
means,” she said. “To overturn 
this, I think it’s very classist and 
they’re thinking of it in terms of 
who can actually pay for their 
health insurance. They’re thinking 
in terms of their friend groups but 
they’re not thinking about access 
for all.”

She mentioned there are people 

in her home community who do 
not have access to a lot of resources 
that people of a higher SES do have.

In an interview with the Detroit 

Free Press, Upton said he expected 
the bill to garner the support of 
other moderate Republicans.

“It’s not quite a done deed 

yet, but it addresses many of my 
concerns,” he said.

Public Policy junior Lauren 

Schandevel, 
Communications 

Director 
of 
the 
University’s 

chapter of College Democrats and a 
columnist for the Daily, expressed 
concern about the passage of the 
bill.

“We 
are 
disappointed 
in 

Representative Upton’s decision 
and we anticipate resistance to the 
bill in the Senate,” she wrote in a 
statement to the Daily.

LSA junior Enrique Zalamea, 

president of the University of 
Michigan’s chapter of College 
Republicans, saw Upton’s decision 
to support the bill as a good sign.

“Seeing Fred Upton change his 

mind by supporting the GOP health 
care bill gives me more confidence 
that after years of Obamacare, real 
change in health care is finally 
going to happen,” he said.

Engineering 
senior 
Andrew 

Lavery said he isn’t surprised by 
the passage. 

“I don’t expect Congress to do 

anything sane most of the time,” 
he said. “I’m a computer science 
major who pays a lot of attention 
to tech and copyright policy and 
Congress 
never 
makes 
sense 

with that. So them continuing to 
not make sense with health care 
policy is no surprise, though it is a 
disappointment.”

ACROSS
1 Eye-related prefix
5 Acht minus
sechs
9 Con
13 Rock guitarist
Eddy
15 Make
16 Dracula costume
item
17 Workshop sticker
19 Major in
astronomy?
20 64-Across’s
realm
21 Pacified
23 CBS maritime
drama
26 Lay bare
27 Kitchen sticker
32 Personal
assistant
33 “Zounds!”
34 __ Mahal
37 Had already
learned
38 City north of
Memphis
39 Pacific island
where much of
“Lost” was filmed
40 Scrape (out)
41 “Wheel of
Fortune” name
42 Half-note feature
43 Mailroom sticker
46 Kicks out
49 Water source
50 I-15 city between
Los Angeles and
Las Vegas
52 Service
interruption
57 Stage direction
58 Desk-bottom
sticker
61 Icy coating
62 Numbers game
63 Knife hawked on
infomercials
64 Old despot
65 Try to find
66 Is appropriate

DOWN
1 River through
Frankfurt
2 __ platter
3 City near Ghost
Ranch, a favorite
Georgia O’Keeffe
retreat

4 “Devil Inside”
band
5 Crazy
consonant?
6 Used to be
7 La Salle of
“Under the
Dome”
8 Subtle slur
9 Make busts
10 Producer Ponti
11 Spots for
religious statues
12 Civil War general
14 Getting a good
look at
18 10K, say
22 They may not be
on speaking
terms
24 Clarifying words
25 City “it took me
four days to
hitchhike from,”
in Paul Simon’s
“America”
27 Hoops move
28 Zamboni domain
29 __ fixe
30 Meadow drops
31 Parking place
34 “Cheerio!”
35 “Shh!” relative

36 Head start
38 Full-length
clerical garments
39 East of Essen
41 Electric Chevy
43 Annoy
44 Childlike race in
“The Time
Machine”
45 Thrown
46 Critic Roger
47 Line on which 
y = 0

48 Ballerina
descriptor
51 “This is fun!”
53 “What a brutal
week!”
54 Lambs, in Latin
55 A strong one may
invert an
umbrella
56 Big birds
59 Hydrocarbon
suffix
60 Asian pan

By Mark McClain
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
05/11/17

05/11/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, May 11, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

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