Republicans revise Obamacare repeal bill amid tepid support
US senators made a last-ditch effort on Monday to secure support for the latest Republican attempt to repeal former president Barack Obama’s signature health care law, releasing revised legislation to appeal to undecided senators.
The bill had faced possible defeat this week as several senators in the party voiced concerns, according to Reuters.
The Senate is up against a Saturday deadline for deciding the fate of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, because of an expiring rule that lets the Republican health care legislation pass with just a simple 51-vote majority, instead of the 60-vote threshold needed for most measures.
Republicans, who control the Senate 52-48, were finding it difficult even to clear that lower hurdle.
Republican senators leading the effort on Monday released a revised version of their bill, originally introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. It included a table that said some states where senators have been undecided, such as Alaska and Maine, would do better under the bill than under current law. The Washington Post first reported the revision.
For seven years, Republicans have hammered Obamacare as an unwarranted and overly expensive government intrusion into American health care. Republican President Donald Trump made repealing Obamacare one of his top campaign promises in 2016. Democrats have fiercely defended it, saying it has extended health insurance to millions.
Democratic leaders roundly rejected the revised draft as a sleight of hand to gain support.
The last attempt to repeal Obamacare fell one vote short in July, in a humiliating setback for Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell.
The Graham-cassidy bill would take federal money spent on the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, as well as subsidies to help Americans buy private insurance, and divvy it up to the states in block grants.
Advocates say that would give states more discretion to manage their own health care schemes.
Opponents fear that undoing Obamacare will mean millions lose health care, including some with preexisting medical conditions.
More time is likely needed for the CBO to gauge how the bill could affect Americans’ access to health insurance. Opposition to the Graham-cassidy plan grew on Sunday. Conservative Republican Senator Ted Cruz, speaking at an event in his home state of Texas, warned on Sunday that Trump and Mcconnell could not count on his vote. Cruz has pushed for greater government cost savings in health care.
Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who voted against her party’s bill in July, said on CNN’S “State of the Union” on Sunday that it was difficult to “envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill.” She worried about cuts to Medicaid benefits to the poor and disabled.