We have watched one Republican health-care plan after another the original House plan, the Meadows-MacArthur amended plan, the original Senate plan and now the Cruz-amended plan. There are some constants:

As to the last:

The July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that most Americans (61 percent) continue to hold unfavorable views of the plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including over four in ten (44 percent) who say they have very unfavorable view. The share of the public with negative views of the law has increased slightly in the past month, from 55 percent to 61 percent. Views of the Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA continue to vary widely by party and a large intensity gap remains, with Democrats being nearly three times as likely to hold a very unfavorable view as Republicans are to hold a very favorable view (71 percent versus 25 percent, respectively).

Nearly two-thirds of the public opposes (65 percent) major reductions in federal funding for Medicaid as part of a plan to repeal and replace the ACA, and most continue to oppose these reductions even after hearing arguments in support of them. About half of Republicans and those who approve of President Trump support major reductions in federal funding for Medicaid. . . .As seen in previous months, more of the public views the ACA favorably than the plan to replace the 2010 health care law (50 percent compared to 28 percent).

Voters are telling Congress and the White House what they want. The majority of the public (71 percent) would rather see Republicans in Congress work with Democrats to make improvements to the ACA but not repeal the law, compared to one-fourth (23 percent) who say they would rather Republicans continue working on their own plan to repeal and replace the ACA. Although a majority of self-identified Republicans do not want bipartisan health care, Trump supporters are divided with similar shares saying Republicans in Congress should continue working on their own plan (47 percent) as saying they want them to work with Democrats on improving the ACA (46 percent).

In short, the longer the GOP debates health care, the less appealing its plan becomes. In this regard, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had it initially right set a quick deadline and take a vote so the GOP can move on to other things. Leaving the plan out there does not help its chances. Alas, McConnell caved to right-wing and White House pressure and now will keep working on health care through mid-August. The danger here is threefold: More debate will intensify opposition; the GOP will be less prepared to shift gears to deal with issues like the budget and debt limit in September; and the rest of the GOPs legislative agenda will become less and less viable. On this one, McConnell should have stuck to his original game plan.

See the original post here:

Some consistency in all the GOP health-care plans - Washington Post