Republicans attempt to come up with modest redo of Obamacare
WASHINGTON — Buoyed by a signal from House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a pared-down health-care bill late Thursday that he hoped would keep alive Republican ambitions to repeal “Obamacare.”
Votes on the measure were expected deep into the night.
McConnell, R-Ky., is calling his bill the Health Care Freedom Act, but among his colleagues it’s known as “skinny repeal.” It’s not intended to become law, but to open a path for a House-Senate conference committee to try to work out comprehensive legislation Congress can pass and send to President Donald Trump.
The bill would repeal the unpopular Affordable Care Act provision that requires most people to have health insurance or risk a fine from the IRS. A similar requirement on larger employers would be suspended for eight years.
Additionally, it would deny funding to Planned Parenthood, and suspend for three years a tax on medical device manufacturers. It would allow states to seek waivers from consumer protections in the Obama-era law, and increase the amount that individuals could contribute to tax-sheltered health savings accounts for medical expenses.
Ryan, R-Wis., opened a path for McConnell earlier Thursday evening by signalling a willingness to negotiate a more comprehensive bill with the Senate. Some Republican senators had been concerned that the House would simply pass the “skinny bill” and send it to Trump. That would have sent a shock wave through health insurance markets, spiking premiums.
Ryan sent senators a statement saying that if “moving forward” requires talks with the Senate, the House would be “willing” to do so. But shortly afterward, his words received varied responses from three GOP senators who’d insisted on a clear commitment from Ryan. It was not immediately clear whether the manoeuvre would succeed.
“Not sufficient,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who returned to the Capitol Tuesday to provide a pivotal vote that allowed the Senate to begin debating the health-care bill, a paramount priority for Trump and the GOP. The 80-year-old McCain had been home in Arizona trying to decide on treatment options for brain cancer.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., initially said “not yet” when asked if he was ready to vote for the scaled-back Senate bill. But later, he told reporters that Ryan had assured him and others in a phone conversation that the House would hold talks with the Senate.
“I feel comfortable personally. I know Paul; he’s a man of his word,” said Graham.
“Let’s see how everything turns out here, guys,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters.
The convoluted developments played out as a divided Senate debated legislation to repeal and replace Obama’s Affordable Care Act. With Democrats unanimously opposed, the slender 52-48 GOP majority was divided among itself over what it could agree to.
After a comprehensive bill failed on the Senate floor, and a straightup repeal failed too, McConnell and his top lieutenants turned toward a lowest-common-denominator solution known as “skinny repeal.” It would package repeal of a few of the most unpopular pieces of the 2010 law, along with a few other measures, with the goal of getting something, anything, out of the Senate.
That would be the ticket to negotiations with the House, which passed its own legislation in May.
But that plan caused consternation among GOP senators after rumours began to surface that the House might just pass the “skinny bill,” call it a day and move on to other issues like tax reform after frittering away the first six months of Trump’s presidency on unsuccessful efforts over health care.