Bill Cassidy

My life work has been to care for such fellow Americans. This bill continues this work by other means.

This gives your State the flexibility to do premium support.

Those opposing this amendment clearly don't care about Americans in these and similar States.

First, let me say one thing about the $1 trillion cut to Medicaid. It is repurposed into the flexible block grant.

Delivery system reform efforts would be challenging in a per-capita cap or block grant environment.

Yes, you can spend, you can also supplement, if you will, the traditional Medicaid budget with the extra dollars that Kansas is receiving, and you have the flexibility to do that as well.

My patients had terrible disease, multiple chronic conditions but could not receive care elsewhere.

The statute specifically says that the Governor must establish that those with pre-existing conditions have access to 'adequate and affordable' coverage.

Absolutely. Senator Heller, folks say you are losing the Medicaid expansion dollars. No, you still get them; you just get them in a flexible block grant.

It is essential to bring health-care decisions down to the State and local levels.

There is a $2-billion implementation fund included in the bill.

But it is the answer.

This plan gives States the flexibility to innovate and create health-care systems.

There is a Merriam-Webster definition of affordable; it means you can afford, as opposed to the $39,000 premiums in the ACA for those in the individual market.

Nor is there a definition for the word 'and'--a-n-d.

It is in the flexible block grant. States can choose to spend that as they wish.

The Governors are excited about it. They see this as the ability to implement change that is tailored for their State.

Under our bill, he could be automatically enrolled so that he would automatically be insured.

First, Missouri has lots more money, because you are a non-expansion State and you would be treated as if you were an expansion State.

If you look at the stock prices of insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and for-profit hospitals since Obamacare passed, they have done extremely well.

The last version was correcting drafting errors; 99.9 percent the same.

It is 148 pages, not 990 pages as was the Affordable Care Act.

But the Tennessee Governor said this is a gold mine or a Godsend or something like that for Tennessee.

We actually, for those two States, we corrected the amount they get from Medicaid.

We agree. Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson passes a flexible block grant through the CHIP program.