4 Republicans aren’t ready to vote yes
Four key Republican lawmakers signal they’re not on board
Conservative senators say bill does not go far enough,
After weeks of closed-door meetings, Senate Republican leaders unveiled a health care bill Thursday that would largely scrap Obamacare by making deep cuts in Medicaid, ending the mandate that everyone buy insurance, repealing taxes on wealthy Americans and insurance companies and stripping funding from Planned Parenthood for a year.
But four conservative Republican senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah — said they were “not ready to vote for this bill” because it does not go far enough in repealing Obamacare. Separately, moderate GOP Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said he had “serious concerns” about the bill’s effect on Medicaid patients.
“For a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor,” Paul, Cruz, Johnson and Lee said in a joint statement. “It does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their health care costs.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expects the bill to come to the floor for a vote as early as next week, after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated its cost and impact. Democrats are united against it, meaning that McConnell can afford to lose only two GOP votes.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said senators will be able to offer amendments on the Senate floor. The CBO said it expects to have its analysis early next week.
“Now that it is known that there are not 50 votes for this, I hope that those who ... have written the bill will negotiate with us,” Paul said.
GOP leaders said the bill represents their best chance to deliver on their campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act — President Obama’s signature health care law. Republicans have charged that Obamacare has raised insurance premiums and driven insurers out of the marketplace. Democrats say Republicans have undermined Obamacare.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D -N.Y., said the bill “would end Medicaid as we know it.”
“This is a bill designed to strip away health care benefits and protections from Americans who need it most in order to give a tax break to the folks who need it least,” Schumer said. “This is a bill that would end Medicaid as we know it, rolling back Medicaid expansion, cutting federal support for the program even more than the House bill.
“Simply put, this bill will result in higher costs, less care, and millions of Americans will lose their health insurance, particularly through Medicaid. It’s every bit as bad as the House bill, in some ways even worse.”
The House passed a different version of the bill on May 4, but senators rejected it and said they would start from scratch on their own proposal. Like the House bill, the Senate measure allows insurers to raise premiums on older policy-holders and would make make it harder than current law for people to qualify for income-based subsidies to help pay for coverage.
The Senate plan does not include a House provision that would let states get waivers to allow insurance companies to raise premiums on some Americans with pre-existing medical conditions Both the House and Senate bill would phase out the expansion of Medicaid eligibility, but the Senate bill does it more slowly.
Heller, a Republican who is up for re-election next year in his swing state, said he has “serious concerns” about the bill.
“Throughout the health care debate, I have made clear that I want to make sure the rug is not pulled out from ... the more than 200,000 Nevadans who received insurance for the first time under Medicaid expansion,” Heller said in a statement.
“At first glance, I have serious concerns about the bill’s impact on the Nevadans who depend on Medicaid. I will read it, share it with Gov. Sandoval, and continue to listen to Nevadans to determine the bill’s impact on our state. ... As I have consistently stated, if the bill is good for Nevada, I’ll vote for it, and if it’s not — I won’t.”
The bill includes $2 billion for opioid addiction treatment in 2018. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a key moderate, said that was not nearly enough.
“They did say there was some opioid funding, but it’s not nearly the amount we had asked for,” Capito said. “I need to look at it and read it to make that final determination (on whether it’s a dealbreaker). I’m not going to do that right now.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, RTenn., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the $2 billion would be the largest amount Congress has allocated in one year to fight opioid addiction. He said he expects some senators to push to add more money when the bill comes to the Senate floor. Democrats said the funding would not make up for cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care for many addicts.
President Trump was lobbying senators to support the bill even before it was unveiled. Paul got a call from the president, his office confirmed Thursday.
“For a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation.” Statement from GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson and Mike Lee