Today is the Mitch McConnell says the text of the Senate ACHA bill will be revealed. After the unveiling of the bill, we will have to wait until next week for a CBO score. The Senator’s goal is to have a bill through by the break for the Fourth of July holiday.
U.S. Senate Republicans plan to unveil the text of their draft healthcare bill on Thursday as senators struggle over issues such as the future of the Medicaid program for the poor and bringing down insurance costs.
Republicans in the chamber have been working for weeks behind closed doors on legislation aimed at repealing and replacing major portions of the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare.
The effort has been plagued from the start by tensions between moderates and conservatives, which surfaced again on Tuesday. Democrats have also criticized the behind-the-scenes meetings, staging a protest on the Senate floor on Monday.
“Republicans are writing their healthcare bill under the cover of darkness because they are ashamed of it,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer charged.
Many Senators have expressed that they do not know what is in the bill. It is believed that a group of 13 Republican Senators has been working in secretive, closed-door sessions.
Here is what is known to be in the bill…
The bill is expected to repeal the biggest parts of the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate and the employer mandate. It is also expected to defund Planned Parenthood for one year by kicking the women’s health organization out of the Medicaid program. That provision could be dropped if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs votes from key moderates who oppose it….
It would eliminate Obamacare’s subsidy program and replace it with a different structure to help low-income people afford insurance. But Republicans are still trying to craft an alternative that would prohibit coverage of abortion without violating the strict reconciliation rules enabling them to pass the bill without a Democratic filibuster….
The bill is also expected to dramatically reshape Medicaid. Instead of an open-ended entitlement, states would get a set amount of money per person. In a win for conservatives, the Senate is expected to cut the program as aggressively as the House did until 2025 or 2026 and then make payments that grow in line with inflation. States are expected to have significant new flexibility for how they run their Medicaid programs. Republicans are likely to include a carve-out for certain children with complex medical needs, according to several sources…
The bill is expected to repeal Obamacare’s taxes, but how soon that is done is fluid because it would likely depend on how much tax revenue is needed to cover other costs associated with the GOP plan….
Public approval for the House version is dropping, even with Republican voters. It is predicted that the Senate version will be equally unpopular…
And while 16 percent of Republican voters opposed the bill in late April, about 30 percent of such voters now say they are against the bill, the Morning Consult/Politico survey found…
Just 35 percent of all voters now approve of the House bill, down from 42 percent at the end of April, according to that poll.
Another survey, also released Wednesday, found that majorities of voters oppose all the key provisions found in the House bill — even in congressional districts that voted strongly for Republicans in recent elections.
