Share

Four Republican senators not ready to vote for healthcare bill

In a separate statement, Paul said he would vote against the bill “in its current form, but I remain open to negotiation”. Democrats are united in opposition. Even if it passes it would have to go back to the House for a vote before landing on Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

Advertisement

The Better Care Reconciliation Act, introduced Thursday by Senate Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, would both increase pregnancy costs for women, and increase the cost of not getting pregnant. The president made it clear that he wants to make health care not only accessible, but affordable.

Late Thursday, Trump tweeted, “I am very supportive of the Senate #HealthcareBill. Now the hard work starts, but it’s a really good beginning to that process and we need to move quickly because the Obamacare system is failing around us”, Sen.

Obama law: Requires all insurance plans to cover services from 10 broad “essential services”, including hospitalization, office visits, prescriptions, maternity and childbirth, substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, and preventive services, including birth control at no additional charge for women.

A full repeal would mean eliminating health insurance subsidies and letting the health insurance market adjust its prices or face the devastating loss of millions of customers.

Heller said that to win his vote, GOP leaders would have to “protect Medicaid expansion states” from the bill’s current cuts.

Senate GOP bill: There is no penalty for having a break in coverage and no waiting period for consumers to use their insurance.

Obama held nothing back as he weighed in on Facebook.

Democrats said the GOP measure would take coverage away from people and raise their out-of-pocket costs, all in the name of paring taxes on the wealthy. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was a member of the working group that was tasked with putting the plan together, but he said in a video earlier this week that he couldn’t answer questions from constituents about it because he hadn’t seen the bill yet. Heller’s announcement makes Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s goal of securing 50 of his party’s 52 votes by next week even tougher. The subsidies help reduce deductibles and copayments for people with modest incomes. Fewer than one in three Americans supports it, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Once promised as a top-to-bottom revamp of the health bill passed by the House last month, the Senate bill instead maintains its structure, with modest adjustments.

“I think obviously Medicaid expansion and the opioid issues are the areas of greatest concern for me and folks in my state”, the West Virginia Republican said. The bill would create a new system of federal tax credits to help people buy health insurance, while offering states the ability to drop numerous benefits required by the ACA.

The bill language was not amended by the Senate. And without the individual mandate, that sort of adverse selection, the death spiral, the elevated premiums – all of that that’s going on gets worse under this bill. The so-called individual mandate – aimed at keeping insurance markets solvent by prompting younger, healthier people to buy policies – has always been one of the GOP’s favorite targets. “However, it is also critical that strong incentives for people to keep continuous coverage be included to ensure a balanced market”, the lobby group said.

It proposes defunding Planned Parenthood for a year, but abortion-related restrictions are less stringent than the House version because of uncertainty over whether they would comply with Senate rules. “We’ve got to fix the unmitigated disaster that is Obamacare”. About 43 people were arrested at the Capitol Thursday for protesting eventual cuts to Medicaid.

Advertisement

As TIME reported on Thursday, numerous senators involved in formulating the bill received high-dollar donations from health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, or other related organizations.

Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast rewritten or redistributed. CBS News