Senate Republicans unveil Obamacare replacement bill, but fate uncertain

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans yesterday unveiled legislation that would replace Obamacare with a plan that scales back aid to the poor and kills a tax on the wealthy, but the bill’s fate was quickly thrown into question as several senators voiced skepticism.

Four conservative lawmakers said they could not support it in its current form, leaving Republicans short of the votes they need for passage. Democrats are united in opposition.

The 142-page proposal, worked out in secret by a group led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, aims to deliver on a central campaign promise of President Donald Trump by rolling back former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which has provided coverage to millions of Americans since it was passed in 2010.

Republicans view the law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, as a costly government intrusion into the private marketplace.

Trump welcomed the bill but indicated that changes may be in store.

“I am very supportive of the Senate #Healthcarebill. Look forward to making it really special!” he wrote on Twitter.

Trump urged the House of Representatives to pass a similar bill in May, only to criticize it in private as “mean” once it passed. He said on Wednesday he wanted a health plan “with heart.”

Democrats immediately attacked the legislation as a callous giveaway to the rich that would leave millions without coverage.

“The president said the House bill was mean,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. “The Senate bill may be even meaner.”

Obama weighed in on Facebook. “If there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm,” he wrote.

The Senate’s most conservative members said the plan did not do enough to scale back the U.S. government’s role.

“This current bill does not repeal Obamacare. It does not keep our promises to the American people,” said Senator Rand Paul, who along with fellow Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson said they could not support it in its current form.

Shares of hospital companies and health insurers rose on the bill’s release, with the overall S&P 500 healthcare sector closing up 1.1 percent at an all-time high.

“The initial proposal I think is more generous and more positive to the industry than expected,” said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager with Gabelli Funds.

SHARPER CUTS TO MEDICAID Over months of often bitter debate, Republicans have struggled to craft legislation that lowers costs and reduces government involvement, while minimizing the inevitable disruptions that would come with a revamp of a sector that accounts for onesixth of the world’s largest economy.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the House bill would kick 23 million Americans off their health plans, and the legislation is unpopular with the public. Fewer than one in 3 Americans supports it, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

The Senate measure maintains much of the structure of the House bill, but differs in several key ways.

The Senate bill would phase out Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor more gradually than the House version, waiting until after the next presidential election in 2020, but would enact deeper cuts starting in 2025. It would also allow states to add work requirements for some of the 70 million Americans who depend on the program.

The legislation also provides more generous tax subsidies than the House bill to help low-income people buy private insurance.