Sen. John McCain is a no on the GOP’s latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care.
On Friday, McCain made the announcement despite immense pressure from both sides.
In a statement, McCain said he takes no pleasure in opposing his party’s last ditch effort to gut the Affordable Care Act, but that he can’t in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy legislation. McCain had been considered a key vote that Republicans needed to win in hopes of passing the legislation before the end of the month.
While the major players in the health care industry — hospitals, doctors, insurers — have roundly criticized the bill, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Sen. Jeff Flake both favor the legislation.
New numbers from the state show Arizona could lose a third of its federal funding for its expanded Medicaid program in the first years under the legislation.
In his statement, McCain said a bill of this magnitude requires a bipartisan approach and reliable answers to its real impacts, including a score from the Congressional Budget Office.
On Friday, Ducey tweeted that he still supports the bill: "Graham-Cassidy's block grant approach is far superior to anything Washington, D.C. has proposed on healthcare policy in recent memory because it shifts dollars and decisions back to the states."
