Unlikely hero John McCain saves Affordable Care Act

John McCain shocked the nation early Friday morning voting against the so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare. After undergoing surgery for brain cancer, McCain made it back to Washington for the vote, many assuming he was going to vote with his party. Instead, he pleaded with his fellow senators for a return to bipartisanship.

This past week was certainly a difficult and tumultuous one for Senator John McCain. First, he was diagnosed with brain cancer for which he had to receive surgery. Despite this, he returned to the Senate on Tuesday and made a speech with an important message: “Let’s trust each other. Let’s return to regular order,” he said “We’re getting nothing done.”

He made his return to vote in favor of opening the debate on the Republican health care proposals. The so called “skinny repeal” bill was meant to repeal just three key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. These include the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and the tax on medical devices.

In the final hours leading up to the vote, many were unsure how it would end. Senators Collins and Murkowski had been the two Republican holdouts from the start and that did not look like it was going to change. Had McCain voted yes the vote would have been 50-50, with Vice President Mike Pence present to serve as tie breaker.

But then came the unexpected. Senator McCain walked out onto the Senate floor, surrounded by his Republican colleagues, raised his hand to get the clerk’s attention, paused for a moment, and then gave a thumbs down. He then walked back to his seat to the sound of audible gasps and a few muffled claps.

In a statement released following the vote, McCain said “I have believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people. The so-called ‘skinny repeal’ amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those goals. While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens.”

To see a senator in this day and age put country before party is certainly a shock. But as McCain said in his speech Tuesday, it hasn’t always been this way. As someone who has served in the senate for three decades, McCain recalls a time when members of Congress, regardless of party loyalty, would trust and respect one another to ensure they put the American people first. Even if that meant compromising just to make minuscule gains. That, he says, is the essence of a democracy.

Hopefully more Republican lawmakers will follow McCain’s example and put country ahead of party. Obamacare is not certainly perfect. Some parts have had positive impacts while others are in need of improvement. What should be done is work on those areas to create a better overall healthcare system for the country, not simply repealing it to spite the Democrats and the former president, meanwhile millions lose their health insurance and possibly lose a lot more.

History may or may not remember this as a defining moment. That depends on what the Republicans do next. If they realize they will not repeal Obamacare and should instead seek bipartisan solutions to its various problems, then they will be remembered as having put their politics aside for their country, as McCain has done. The other scenario is that they ignore the writing on the wall and continue with this foolhardy crusade to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act, following their lobbyists and party politics and turning their backs on the very people that elected and gave them their power.