"Obamacare isn't working - by any almost any measure it has failed", said Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., about how they say the.
And while many Republicans expressed optimism that the bill marked an improvement over the House replacement plan, the changes proposed in the Senate weren't enough to sway Shelli Quenga, who helps residents enroll in Affordable Care Act plans through the nonprofit Palmetto Project where she works.
The bill would end Obama's tax penalties on people who don't buy insurance - effectively ending the so-called individual mandate - and on larger companies that don't offer coverage to their workers.
The measure represents the Senate GOP's effort to achieve a top tier priority for President Donald Trump and virtually all Republican members of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hopes to push it through his chamber next week, but solid Democratic opposition - and complaints from at least a half-dozen Republicans - have left its fate unclear.
"Republicans believe we have a responsibility to act - and we are", Mr McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. "Because Obamacare is a direct attack on the middle class, and American families deserve better than its failing status quo".
Despite McConnell's positive reinforcement, many Republican senators were not immediately sold on the draft legislation after a closed-door briefing Thursday morning.
McConnell said in the chamber that a fresh CBO score on the new bill was expected next week, and there will be "robust debate" on the floor. Democrats on the Senate floor are already using those words against him. They said GOP characterizations of the law as failing are wrong and said the Republican plan would boot millions off coverage and leave others facing higher out-of-pocket costs.
Schumer says, "We live in the wealthiest country on earth".
In the case of the Senate health-care bill, some insurers didn't even wait for the official release before expressing their concerns. Rand Paul of Kentucky is expected to be one of those three senators.
The Senate bill would phase out extra money Obama's law provides to 31 states that agreed to expand coverage under the federal-state Medicaid program.
Court Dismisses Bogus Charges Against David Daleiden for Exposing Planned Parenthood
They also argued that the conversations the Center for Medical Progress recorded took place in public areas such as restaurants. Similar charges were brought against the pro-life activists in Texas but they too were eventually dismissed.
"I think it's a good proposal overall", said Sen.
The bill winds down the expanded Medicaid program under Obamacare after 2020 - a longer timeline than the House health care bill that was passed in May.
But Trump has made a slight about-face about health care reform since cheering the House bill during a Rose Garden ceremony.
If three GOP senators vote no, the bill will not pass. Some from states that have expanded the program have battled to prolong the phase-out, while conservative Republicans have sought to halt the funds quickly. States that exceed average per-patient Medicaid spending by 25 percent will be penalized by having their allotted funding slashed by up to 2 percent per year. That's a fundamental change; now the program is "open-ended", meaning funding increases as need increases.
As of 2020, the bill also eliminates cost-sharing subsidies that help low-income Americans pay for their insurance. It does not keep our promises to the American people.
But it also reconfigures subsidies and gives states wider abilities to opt out of regulations and waive essential benefits that are mandatory in insurance plans under current law. House Republicans have challenged the legality of the $7 billion in subsidies - which help cover consumers' deductibles and copays - in court, and insurers warned they would have to increase premiums dramatically next year unless the federal government commits to continuing the payments.
Under Obama's law, "many of those people would have gotten much more generous plans", she said.
Those senators - Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah - released a statement stating that while they cannot support the bill as its now written, they are open to negotiating changes that could ultimately win their support. States could not get exemptions to Obama's prohibition against charging higher premiums for some people with pre-existing medical conditions, but the subsidies would be lower, Pearson said, making coverage less unaffordable.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell developed the bill behind closed doors. But some Republicans want to ban all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which also provides health services such as birth control and preventive screening. The House bill called for creating tax credits based largely on age, but adding abortion restrictions to these credits could have run afoul of Senate rules governing the bill. Democrats say it's nothing but a giant tax cut for the rich. Trump has been threatening to discontinue those payments, and some insurance companies have cited uncertainty as a reason they are abandoning some markets and boosting premiums.
Comments