Senate Republican leaders are set to unveil draft language of legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), after weeks of secrecy surrounding their effort to prepare a healthcare bill to be voted on as early as next week.
The Senate bill is expected to follow the template laid out in the House version, which narrowly passed last month, but with key differences.
According to reports in the Washington Post and Politico, sourced to a draft that was circulating among lobbyists and aides, the Senate proposal would repeal key provisions of the ACA, restructure healthcare subsidies, and cut funding for Medicaid, the health-care program for low-income Americans.
It would keep income-based tax credits and subsidies – which are currently available under the ACA – unlike the House measure, which tied them to age. The proposal would also stagger the cuts to Medicaid expansion, rolling back spending on the healthcare program over four years – as opposed to three, as had been considered – beginning in 2020, according to Politico. This provision is a victory for moderates who were concerned about abruptly cutting Medicaid.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell will brief his caucus on the proposal during a meeting on Thursday morning, when the bill is expected to be made public. McConnell has said he would like to vote on the bill before Congress leaves for the Fourth of July recess, at the end of next week.
The details of the plan are subject to change, especially after negotiations to assemble a bill that can earn 50 votes.
Republicans, who hold a small, 52-seat majority in the 100-member Senate, are using a special budget process called reconciliation that allows them to bypass a Democratic filibuster. But their margin is slim: they can only afford to lose two GOP senators to earn the necessary 50 votes, with vice-president Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote.
The Senate will not vote on their bill without an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, told reporters on Wednesday that a CBO score is expected by Monday but could come as early as Friday.
Despite not having read a final bill yet, several senators have already expressed concerns with the bill and with the state of negotiations. Conservatives like senators Rand Paul, of Kentucky, and Mike Lee, of Utah, want to see the bill that goes further on repealing Obamacare. But moderates, like senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, want a slower phase out of Medicaid expansion, which covers low-income residents in their states.
On Wednesday, Democrats continued to protest the secrecy of the healthcare bill – which was drafted behind closed doors and is not expected to receive a public hearing.
In a floor speech on Wednesday, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, rallied opponents of the Republicans repeal efforts: “This is the time to get loud – to get very loud.”
“This isn’t some mundane debate where the two sides can’t square their differences, the kind most people choose to ignore,” Wyden said. “This is an out and out attack on the healthcare of millions of Americans.”
McConnell has brushed of accusations that the process has been secretive despite complaints from his own party that they are frustrated with the lack of transparency. In a tweet on Wednesday, McConnell’s team said the “@SenateGOP has been active & engaged on how to move beyond failures of #Obamacare & we’re focused on following”.
On Wednesday night, =Donald Trump said in a speech that he urged Senate Republicans to increase funding for their healthcare bill to give the plan more “heart”.
“I’ve been talking about a plan with heart. I said, ‘Add some money to it’,” he said at a rally in Iowa, confirming reports that had leaked from his meeting with Senate Republicans about their bill.
Trump also dangled an option sure to rankle members of his party as they prepare to publish their bill: he said he’d be willing to change the bill if Democrats would join the effort.
“A few votes from the Democrats – it could be so easy,” he said, adding: “So beautiful.”
(TheGuardian US)
