I was getting slightly nervous about this bill for a moment there but it always seemed to me like a Hail Mary designed to shore up Graham and Heller's credentials as not-RINOs for potential primary challengers more than a serious attempt at passing radical healthcare legislation. Again, there has been no real attempt to sell this bill to the country; I can't imagine the political calculus that any Republicans actually want to have a trillion dollar Medicaid cut hanging around their necks going into 2018.
'Skinny repeal' looked like a close vote as well but again we have a bill with about 10 senators in the 'uncertain' column that people have assumed are Yes votes when really it seems more like they are jostling to see who will fall on their sword first.
Collins and Murkowski are almost certainly No votes as this bill crosses all kinds of red lines e.g. gross attacks on Planned Parenthood and prenatal coverage, but they'd rather not take too much public heat without Mitch forcing them to walk the plank again, which I'm doubtful he'll do a second time. The skinny repeal fiasco already served the purpose of making Republicans looks like they were trying to do something without actually doing anything. Easier to say 'we came up short on the votes', diffuse blame and move on without throwing Capito and others under the bus again by actually calling another vote.
