As millions of Americans continue to become unemployed and lose their health insurance during this unprecedented public health crisis, Senate Republicans still see no need to act on health care.
“I’d like us to put in place a better program than the one we have, the Obamacare program, but getting that in place for the country to take advantage of in the next few weeks is just not very likely,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said.
Staff for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) simply referred HuffPost to previous comments she made to the Bangor Daily News that she was “disappointed” in President Donald Trump for not allowing a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act. She did not comment on Congress taking further action on health care specifically.
Sen. Lamar Alexander’s office declined to comment on the matter entirely, saying it had “nothing to add” at this time. The Tennessee Republican is the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee in the Senate.
The implication of leaving millions uninsured is a matter of life and death. A 2019 report on Medicaid expansion found there could have been 15,600 fewer deaths if all 50 states expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. There’s a growing body of research that has shown expanded public insurance has improved health outcomes, increasing preventative care and saving patients with chronic illnesses, like kidney disease. | 
