One Way for G.O.P. to Achieve Some Repeal Goals? It’s Already Part of Obamacare
On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn’t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: “A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”

On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn’t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: “A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”

Mr. McCain’s vote most likely dooms the current Obamacare repeal effort, which can afford to lose the votes of only two Republican senators. (Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Susan Collins of Maine are generally regarded as no votes as well.) But there is, in fact, a bipartisan effort that could help Congress achieve many of the goals that the recent bill’s authors say they hope to accomplish. The catch: It would be hard for Republicans to call it Obamacare repeal.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who brought the legislation with Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has said that one of his key goals was to eliminate Obamacare’s top-down approach, giving states more power to run their own health care systems according to local preferences and conditions. “I’m trying to take the money and power in Washington and send it back closer to the patient,” he said during a news conference Tuesday, adding that “government closer to the people is the best government.”

Mr. Cassidy has said he wishes to protect insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, though many independent analysts have questioned whether the text of the legislation would, indeed, offer such a protection.