Health care: Trump reaches out to senators

5 Republican senators oppose bill, with Dean Heller saying he can’t back it in current form

President Donald Trump made calls to fellow Republicans in the US Senate on Friday to mobilise support for their party’s health care overhaul while acknowledging the legislation is on a “very, very narrow path” to passage.

Five Republican senators have announced they will not support the bill, which is designed to repeal and replace Obamacare, in its current form.

White House officials said on Friday that Trump has been in touch with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and made calls on Thursday and Friday to other lawmakers.

Trump’s role is expected to become more pronounced in coming days as the vote nears. Senate Republican leaders may rely on the deal-making former businessman to lean on conservative senators who are baulking at the bill.

“We’re pleasantly surprised with a lot of the support that’s already come out and I think we’ll continue to work through [it], in particular the four individuals who have expressed some ideas and concerns,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at a White House briefing.

With all Democrats expected to oppose the measure, the Republicans can afford to lose the support of only two of their 52 members if they want to pass the legislation.

After Spicer spoke, Republican Senator Dean Heller became the fifth Republican opponent on Friday, saying he would not support the bill in its current form.

“This bill that’s currently in front of the United States Senate is not the answer,” Heller, a moderate who is up for reelection in 2018, said at a news conference in Las Vegas.

That could add Heller’s name to Trump’s call list. A White House official said the Trump has pushed his team to stay involved and plans to flex his negotiating muscle, the official said.

An outside political group aligned with the White House, America First Policies, said it is planning an advertising campaign targeting Heller for his opposition to the bill.

Health care stocks closed down 0.1 per cent on Friday, clawing back some losses after the sector dropped sharply late in the session on Heller’s announcement.

The Senate’s 142-page proposal, worked out in secret by a group led by McConnell, aims to deliver on a central Trump campaign promise to undo former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, which has provided coverage to 20 million Americans since 2010.

Republicans view the law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, as a costly government intrusion and say individual insurance markets created by it are collapsing.

On Thursday, four of the Senate’s most conservative members said the new plan failed to rein in the federal government’s role. Rand Paul, who has rejected the plan along with fellow Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson, said fundamental problems remained that would leave taxpayers subsidising health insurance companies.