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Speaker Paul Ryan says the collapse of the House Republican health care bill means former President Barack Obama's health care law will be around for the foreseeable future. (March 24) AP

Health care activists march to the Trump International hotel during a protest in March in Washington, D.C.(Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, was waiting for his turn to speakin favor of the GOP health care bill Friday when it was yanked from the House floor in the last minutes of debate.

Vote! Vote! Democrats shouted as Messer and other stony-faced Republicans filed off the floor to a closed-door meeting where the Rolling Stones You Cant Always Get What You Want played.

Republicans seven-year effort to get rid of President Barack Obamas signature health care bill was dead.

I dont know what else to say other than Obamacares the law of the land, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters after the short caucus meeting ended. Were going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.

Indianas uninsured rate had dropped from 13 percent before major provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Actbegan to 9 percent in 2015. But Republicans argued it imposed too many taxes and regulations on the health care system, without lowering costs.

Most of Indianas seven GOP House members, as well as Gov. Eric Holcomb, had backed the repeal and replace bill.

One Indiana House member, freshman Rep. Trey Hollingsworth of Jeffersonville, issued a statement after the vote criticizing career politicians for lacking the courage to act, but he never said if he supported the bill.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., also had not said if he backed it.

WHAT HAPPENED:Failure to repeal Obamacare ends terrible week for Trump, GOP

The two major components of the ACA which increased coverage an expansion of Medicaid and subsidies for people who buy insurance without help from an employer would have been scaled back. Taxes the ACA imposed on the wealthy and sectors of the health care industry to pay for the ACA would have been repealed.People would not have been fined for not having insurance and larger employers would not have had to offer coverage to workers.

An estimated 24 million fewer people would have had insurance under the bill in 2026 compared with no changes to the law. Some would have gone without by choice. Many would have done so because they could not afford it, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The bill lost support of some more moderate Republicans concerned about the loss of coverage, while too many hard-line conservatives opposed the bill for not going far enough to undo Obamacare.

When it was clear not enough lawmakers had been swayed even after additional changes were made to the bill Thursday night, Vice President Mike Pence canceled an out-of-town trip and huddled Friday afternoon with members of the House Freedom Caucus. Leaving the meeting, Pence ignored shouted questions from reporters about whether the bill had the votes to pass.

Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price leave the Capitol Hill Club on Capitol Hill March 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. While Pence visited with lawmakers Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) traveled to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the fate of the American Health Care Act.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)

As the debate continued on the floor, Democrats remained united in their opposition.

Rep. Pete Visclosky,D-Merrillville, said the bill would jeopardize care for the more than 400,000 Hoosiers on HIP 2.0, Indianas alternative Medicaid program that was expanded through the ACA. The GOP bill would have phased out the Medicaid expansion, as well as cut funding for Indianas traditional Medicaid program, which covers children, pregnant women, the disabled and low-income seniors.

Medicaid spending is the source of two-thirds of federal funding received by Indiana for a program used by about 1 in 5 Hoosiers.

Holcomb earlier this year asked the federal government for permission to continue HIP 2.0, and to expand access to substance abuse disorder services for an estimated cost of $70.75 million a year.

But he backed the GOP bill this week, saying in a letter to congressional leaders that Obamacare had diverted resources away from Medicaids core mission. He praised recent changes to the bill that would have allowed states to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients, and allowed states to accept less funding than in the original bill in exchange for more leeway on how to run the program.

Its a huge step forward in giving states the flexibility in deciding who really needs this assistance, how they should get it and what they should get, Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indianapolis, said on the House floor.

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita(Photo: File photo)

Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Newburgh, said the voters who fought against Obamacare because it caused them to lose coverage or pay higher premiums had put Republicans in charge of Congress and the White House in part so the law could be repealed.

Its an opportunity for us to fulfill our promise to our constituents, he said.

PresidentDonald Trump carried Indiana by 19 percentage points. But a majority of voters 56 percent opposed the GOP bill while only 17 percent supported it, according to a Quinnipiac University surveyed of 1,056 voters taken March 16-21.

Replacing Obamacare will come with a price for elected representatives who vote to scrap it, say many Americans, who clearly feel their health is in peril under the Republican alternative, said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Republicans said they need some time to reflect on what happened Friday, but will quickly regroup.

NEXT STEPS:With Obamacare repeal dreams dashed, what can GOP accomplish?

Health care reform, however, is no longer on the table, said a subdued Messer.

Were going to wake up tomorrow morning and weve still got a lot of work to do for the American people, said Messer, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee. Today is a disappointing day, but were going to have to move on to other issues.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the failure of House Republicans to bring their health care bill to a vote 'a victory for the American people.' (March 24) AP

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.

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Despite support from Indiana Republicans, health bill fails - Indianapolis Star

New York Times

Republicans Land a Punch on Health Care, to Their Own Face New York Times Since the Tea Party wave of 2010 that swept House Republicans into power, a raucous, intransigent and loosely aligned group of lawmakers known as the Freedom Caucus most from heavily Republican districts has often landed a punch to its own ... and more »

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Republicans Land a Punch on Health Care, to Their Own Face - New York Times

"I don't think that one party's going to be able to fix this by themselves," the South Carolina Republican said Saturday at a town hall event. "I think the President should reach out to Democrats, I should reach out to Democrats, and we should say, 'Let's take a shot at doing this together because it ain't working doing it by ourselves.'"

After Republicans were forced to pull their bill to replace Obamacare from the floor of the GOP-controlled House on Friday, Trump blamed Democrats and vowed to let Obamacare "explode."

"We had no Democrat support. We had no votes from the Democrats," Trump said. "They weren't going to give us a single vote, so it's a very, very difficult thing to do. I think the losers are (House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi and (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer because now they own Obamacare. 100% own it."

Graham has been a frequent critic of the Affordable Care Act and reinforced that Saturday.

"Here's what I think about health care: Obamacare is a disaster and it's going to collapse," he said at the Columbia, South Carolina, event, drawing boos from the crowd.

But the long-serving senator said the Trump administration is going to have to learn to work with Democrats if it wants to implement its vision for this country.

"At my core, I'm a fiscal and social conservative, but here's what I believe -- I can't run the country by myself, and we have to work together," he said. "If you want to save this country from becoming Greece, you need Republicans and Democrats to work together to reform entitlement programs before it's too late."

Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the Budget Committee, made a similar point Friday.

"At some point, on behalf of the American people, we have to resolve the issues that are driving up costs, limiting choices, and causing the individual market to spiral downward," the Tennessee Republican said. "I stand ready to work with the administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in order to fix our broken health care system."

Graham, who has long called for an investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, also said Saturday that politicians should not hamper that investigation.

"We've learned that the FBI is investigating Trump campaign operatives for potential ties to Russia," he said. "Here's my belief: It goes where it goes. No politicians should stand in the way. We should let the FBI do their job. And what happens happens."

On Friday, House Intelligence Committee member Jim Himes accused California Rep. Devin Nunes of persistently serving "the interests of Donald Trump" as chairman of the committee, which is probing alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia.

"Devin, as much as I appreciate him and consider him a friend, has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he often serves the interests of Donald Trump," the Connecticut Democrat told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." "Once again, we were shown why this should be done by an outside commission."

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Lindsey Graham on health care: Republicans and Democrats need to work together - CNN International

Co-authored with your friendly neighborhood policy wonk, Brandon McKoy.

Ever since last November, we have seen an upsurge in progressives calling for a Tea Party-style political activist agenda, encouraging those upset with the results of the election to speak up at town halls, run for office, and lobby their elected officials, among other things. Even though these efforts are noble and important, they are not enough to make lasting change. Taking lessons from the Tea Party playbook will become a futile exercise if progressives dont understand history and circumstance and do more.

Progressives arent fighting to reinstate progressive policies, they are fighting for this country to finally implement them. For instance, we are the only advanced nation on earth without a national paid leave policy. Progressives across the country are working to change that.

Currently, there seems to be a spectrum between running for office and engaging with your elected officials. It is critical to understand that there are things across that spectrum which are just as worthwhile. And it is what progressives do with these opportunities that will decide just how successful they are in securing their vision of America. We have a few ideas.

First, there should be an apparatus to train and teach folks how to successfully pursue and administer campaign staff positions. Lately, there has been much ado about getting progressives to run for office. On the one hand, it seems intuitiveinstead of advocating for policy changes, just make those decisions yourself. On the other hand, simply electing progressive candidates is no guarantee that they'll support and enact progressive policies. Thats why theres reason to doubt that passively electing qualified progressives will be enough to undo harmful policies - especially those that hurt marginalized people. Rather, helping people understand the mechanics of political fundraising and training them on the ways opposition research is conducted will be central to future success. Politics is like football and its true that progressives need a deep bench, but they need more than just quarterbacks.

Second, take policy analysis to the streets. Both of us attended policy school and, while some of those lessons arent worth the price tag, they were extremely valuable for us, especially as we needed the knowledge and network to conduct research on budget and tax policy. For folks who dont have access to policy school or even the desire to attend, the critical basics of policy analysis canand should beunderstood by more activists and advocates. If possible, auditing or enrolling in policy courses should be a priority. The more that policy details and analyses are understood, the more effective advocates will be in fighting for progressive policies.

Third, progressives need to read and share more research papers. Its not that everyone should become an expertits that folks should have access to factual information. There are plenty of listservs that send around talking points, but they send them without a more in-depth understanding of the issue at hand. Seriously, anyone can spout talking points about the importance of increasing the minimum wage, but advocates are more likely to be effective if they can reference the plethora of research showing that the minimum wage increases the standard of living, creates more jobs, and helps grow the economy.

Finally, progressives need to give people options to get involvedespecially options that pay. Over-emphasizing certain ways to get engaged, like writing letters to your elected officials, may lead to political participation fatigue. Its critical for progressives to encourage people to work for public service whether as a legislative assistant or a staffer in a government agency. It goes without saying that its much easier to do good in service of the public interest when its your day job, and few would disagree that government-related staff could use more people who actually believe in the ability of government to have a positive impact on the lives of everyday people.

This past Friday can be considered a victory for progressives, since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement plan has, for the time being, failed. But its important to remember that the ACA is full of ideas that originated in conservative circles. Thats why progressives shouldnt become prisoners of this moment. For them, complacency is not an option, and neither is grandiosity. The real work starts now.

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Combating Tunnel Vision: Why Progressives Need to do More Than Protest and Run for Office - Huffington Post

Our Revolution St. Joseph, a progressive political organization, hosted a rally in front of the Buchanan County Courthouse on Thursday against the scheduled GOP vote on the American Health Care Act.

About 20 community members were in attendance at the impromptu protest, and Derek Evans, the co-founder of Our Revolution St. Joseph, said one of their main concerns with the new health care bill is that it would leave 24 million Americans uninsured by 2026 if it replaced the Affordable Care Act (according to the Congressional Budget Office).

The figure of how that is going to affect the 6th congressional district, Sam Graves district, is almost 40,000 people who will be at risk of losing their health insurance, he said. You know, I dont know if Sam Graves is wavering, but an article said that he was uncommitted. He didnt come out and say unequivocally yes or no.

Evans said the group has a three-fold mission: Push policies and ballot initiates that fall in line with the Our Revolution platform; field, support and endorse progressive candidates at every level of government; and get more people involved in the political process.

Whether its protests or whether its those town halls, those sort of direct-action things are working, he said. There are multiple Republicans who have come out and said, I dont think we are going to get this passed because we have a number of legislators whose constituents are angry. Their constituents have made their voice known that they do not want the American Health Care Act. They do want to keep ACA.

House Speaker Paul Ryan met with President Donald Trump before the anticipated health care vote Friday to inform him that they did not have the votes, and around 3 p.m. EDT, the President accepted his recommendation that Republicans pull the health care bill.

Speaker Ryan said the GOP majority is planning to move on from health care to focus on other priorities, and that they will be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.

Catherine Edwards, the Executive Director of the Missouri Association of Area Agencies of Aging, said she believes in what Obamacare is trying to do.

Weve worked very hard with the Affordable Care Act, she said. And in the past couple of years, weve seen the uninsured rate in Missouri drop by about 250,000 people, which is significant. Because Missouri did not expand Medicaid, were finding a large pool of people who fall in what we call the Medicaid gap. If we had expanded Medicaid, wed be able to cover those as well, and wed see another drop.

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Local progressives protest American Health Care Act - News-Press Now