Senate Cancels Vote on Affordable Care Act Repeal Legislation

Republican leaders in the Senate canceled a vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after determining the bill did not have enough support to pass. The decision was made after Republican Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), John McCain (R-AZ), and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced they would not vote for the bill. Republican Senators were pushing for repeal before the end of September when the rules allowing the bill to pass with only 50 votes expired.

Like the previous repeal efforts, the Graham-Cassidy bill would cause an estimated 32 million people to lose health insurance and would slash Medicaid funding, including for supportive housing services that benefit people experiencing homelessness. The bill would roll back Medicaid expansion and change the structure of the program, turning it into a block grant and dramatically cutting its funding. The bill also would allow states to impose work requirements on people receiving Medicaid benefits. These changes would be devastating for low income households, especially homeless individuals receiving supportive services through Medicaid.