‘Trumpcare’ to target Obama’s Medicaid plan

A seven-year push by US Republicans, to dismantle Obamacare and kill the taxes it imposed on the wealthy, reached a critical phase on Thursday when Senate Republican leaders unveiled a draft bill they aim to put to a vote, possibly as early as next week.

With Democrats deeply opposed to Republican attempts to overhaul former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the route to passage was extremely narrow for President Donald Trump’s party, with no assurances that moderates and conservatives will be able to bridge their differences.

The draft bill proposes repealing a 3.8 per cent net investment income tax on high earners retroactively to the start of 2017, not at some point in the future, as some analysts had speculated. The tax, affecting highincome Americans and imposed to help pay for Obamacare, has been a key target for Republicans.

The legislation also curbs Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid help for the poor and reshapes subsidies to low-income people for private insurance.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and his lieutenants worked in secret for weeks on the bill, and he said debate on it would start next week.

Republicans who control the House of Representatives approved a more conservative version last month.

US hospital stocks traded sharply higher after the bill was released, adding to gains from earlier in the session.

HCA Healthcare Inc rose 3.3 per cent, while Tenet Healthcare Corp surged 7.4 per cent.

Health insurers also traded broadly higher, with large players Aetna Inc and UnitedHealth Group Inc each up more than 1.5 per cent.