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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
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RELEASE DATE– Thursday, May 11, 2017
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