Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada told reporters on Friday that he will not vote for Senate Republican leadership's healthcare bill as it stands now. I don't think this kills the bill: Heller is the single most deserving of a lifeboat of any Republican senator, given his reelection circumstances, and McConnell may well have given him the nod to go ahead with this statement. Hillary Clinton won the state by 2.4 percentage points, or 27,272 votes.
Republicans view the law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, as a costly government intrusion and say individual insurance markets created by it are collapsing.
Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, facing a competitive 2018 re-election battle, Rob Portman of OH and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia expressed concerns about the bill's cuts to Medicaid and drug addiction efforts. The current bill does not repeal Obamacare.
Mr Trump's role is expected to become more pronounced in coming days as the vote nears.
Hospital stocks have been under pressure from the possibility of health-care reform because they have been more profitable under Obamacare, which the Congressional Budget Office said would result in 23 million more Americans with insurance over a decade than under the House GOP plan.
Why are they against the bill? . Heller's announcement makes Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's goal of securing 50 of his party's 52 votes by next week even tougher. He's particularly concerned about spending cuts to Medicaid included in the bill. It is simply not the answer.
Senate Healthcare Bill Already in Trouble
Also aiding McConnell is the fact that Republicans have campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare for more than seven years. The Senate bill not only ends the Medicaid expansion, but it also changes the underlying formula for how Medicaid is funded.
"The Medicaid cuts are the part of the Senate bill that probably give us the most heartburn", Moller said.
He did not hold back his criticism of the Senate bill, and his concerns on the Medicaid cuts ranged from their impact on special needs schools to their effect on substance abuse programs.
"In this form, I will not support it", Heller said at a news conference with Republican Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
"Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions", Obama wrote.
Assistant Director of the Dayton Access Center for Independent Living, Greg Kramer, says cutting Medicaid would hurt many low-income people with disabilities who rely on the program for health care and services.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that President Donald Trump "is pleased to see the process moving forward swiftly in Congress, and he looks forward to seeing a finalised bill on his desk".
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