Axios

Sen. John McCain returned to the Senate floor for an impassioned speech, calling for both Republicans and Democrats to come together.

The big quote: "Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and the television and the internet — to hell with them! They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood."

On a health care compromise: "We haven't found it yet, and I'm not sure we will…I will not vote for this bill as it is today. It's a shell of a bill right now. We all know that…If this process ends in failure, which seems likely, then let's return to regular order."

Worth considering: Just before his vote, McCain voted yes on a motion to proceed to debate a repeal of the Affordable Care Act — without knowing exactly what a repeal bill looks like and with full knowledge that the motion's failure would very likely force Sen. Mitch McConnell to bring the Senate back to regular order.

Nevada Sen. Dean Heller — one of the most-watched holdouts in the GOP's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — announced this afternoon that he'd vote to allow debate to proceed on repeal efforts. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, meanwhile, joined fellow moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in the "no" column.

From Heller's statement: "Obamacare isn't the answer, but doing nothing to try to solve the problems it has created isn't the answer either."

Other one-time holdouts voting yes: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.

In a study of the brains of 111 deceased former NFL players who had concussion-related problems, 110 had signs of neurodegenerative disease found in autopsy. The new study – the largest of its kind to date — is certain to fuel new rounds of questions about concussions for the NFL and the league's players.

What they found: Researchers examined the brains of 202 former football players (ranging from a handful of high school players to more than 100 former NFL players) who donated their brains for research after they'd developed concussion-related symptoms during their lives. From this group, autopsy showed that 87% showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is the neurodegenerative disease normally associated with the type of head trauma players experience following repeated concussions. Among former NFL players included in the study, however, that number rose to 99% being diagnosed post-mortem.

Centene raised profit projections for the rest of the year after the health insurance company posted larger-than-expected profits in the second quarter. Centene's plans sold in the Affordable Care Act exchanges "continue to be particularly strong," the company said Tuesday.

The Q2 numbers: Profit increased 49% year over year to $254 million. Revenue rose 10% to almost $12 billion.

Beyond the numbers: Centene mostly covers low-income and disabled people on Medicaid. But the company also had 1.1 million ACA exchange members, as of June 30. The profit margins on its ACA plans will come in at "the high end" of Centene's goal, showing that the ACA exchanges are not collapsing for all insurers despite the Trump administration's claims.

Former House speaker John Boehner told a business gathering in Las Vegas that Republicans will never repeal and replace Obamacare because Americans "have gotten accustomed to it," according to the Washington Post.

The big quote: "Here we are, seven months into this year, and yet they've not passed this bill. Now, they're never — they're not going to repeal and replace Obamacare."

His predictions: Republicans will resort to peeling away parts of the law, like employer and individual mandates. Boehner also said he thinks Governors will have more control over Medicaid and there will be fewer Obamacare taxes.

Standing in front of several "Obamacare victims", President Trump criticized Senate Republicans for not doing their job to end "the Obamacare nightmare" and urged his party to pass the Senate health bill and get rid of the Affordable Care Act once and for all.

Key quotes:

• "Obstruction is all the Democrats are good at. The Democrats are not giving us one vote, so we need virtually every Republican vote."
• "Obamacare is death... it's broken, it's gone."

Trump's bottom line: "We as a party must fulfill that solemn promise to the voters of this country to repeal and replace."