It also would end tax penalties on people who don't buy insurance policies and on larger firms that don't offer coverage to workers, while phasing out the extra money given to states that expanded their Medicaid programs to offer insurance to the working poor.
"The protections around pre-existing conditions are still in place in the Senate bill, but the waiver authority gives states options that could include limiting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions", says Pearson. "It will make families pay more for less care and increase the number of people who are uninsured".
The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on the Republican-backed bill.
After Spicer spoke, Republican Senator Dean Heller became the fifth Republican opponent on Friday, saying he would not support the bill in its current form.
Heller, who is up for reelection in 2018, has expressed concerns about the way the measure addresses the future of Medicaid.
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 real goal here is to try to lower the cost of health care", Lynch said.
House Republicans barely managed to muster enough votes with a series of last-minute amendments before the chamber passed a highly criticized Obamacare replacement plan last month. The bill would replace its individual insurance coverage with new subsidies and requirements and cut federal funding for Medicaid.
During a speech on the Senate Floor Thursday, McConnell said the plan was the product of dozens of meetings.
"No one knows the Senate better that Senator McConnell", White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Friday on Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom". "Well, they're also four good guys, four friends of mine, and I think that they'll probably get there", he said. "If Republicans pass this bill, they're the death party". This press conference may have been Heller laying claim to one of the two lifeboats that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can spare in order to get to 50 votes. "That's what I want, make sure that we're taken care of here in the state of Nevada", said Heller. But he said "it's going to be very hard to get me to a "yes" on the bill. "So we're going to see very significant reductions in coverage in Medicaid and big cuts in federal funding that will result in significant budget gaps for states". According to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, 210,000 Nevada residents were covered by Medicaid thanks to the its expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
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