Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine is surrounded by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 13, 2017, after a revised version of the Republican health care bill was announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. The bill has faced opposition and challenges within the Republican ranks, including by Sen. Collins. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A new health care proposal by the Senate GOP may face a rocky future.
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said changes made to the measure’s first draft aren’t enough.
“Still deep cuts to Medicaid in Senate bill,” she said in a statement on Twitter, where she said she’ll vote no on whether to proceed with it.
Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, said the revised bill “is no more encouraging than the last, which is to say it’s still terrible. “
“It still includes drastic cuts to Medicaid that will hurt Maine seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It still shifts costs to the states. It still has inadequate funding for opioid treatment, and now, by presenting bare bones plans, it’s going to drive up the cost of insurance for older, sicker people and likely put health care out of reach for them,’ he said. “None of this is good for Maine
Collins said she is “ready to work” with colleagues from both parties “to fix flaws” in the Affordable Care Act, instead.
King said that “when it comes to the process, to have a few people craft a bill in secret – one that will impact millions of peoples’ lives and one-sixth of the American economy, no less – and then talk about voting on it early next week is simply atrocious, and it’s totally inconsistent with how the Senate was designed to make laws. “
“The Senate needs to abandon this approach and, instead, work in a bipartisan manner to make meaningful improvements” to the existing health care law, King said in a prepared statement.
The opposition of Collins and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, means the GOP can’t afford to lose another senator from its side of the aisle if it hopes to pass the proposal to revamp the Affordable Care Act.
Every Democratic and independent senator is virtually certain to oppose the Republican proposal.
The GOP, which holds 52 of the 100 Senate seats, can’t lose more than two of its Republican members or it can’t pass the legislation. A 50-50 tie would be broken by Republican Vice President Mike Pence.
A number of other Republican senators have expressed concern about the bill, but none have specifically joined Collins and Paul in opposition to it.
In a television interview with Republican preacher Pat Robertson this week, President Donald Trump said it “would be very bad” if the Senate fails to act on the bill.
“I will be very angry about it and a lot of people will be very upset,” said Trump, who sat beside Collins during a White House meeting where he talked about the bill with GOP senators.
But there are a handful of senators who have expressed concern about Medicaid reductions in the proposal who may be unwilling to back the proposal, which was written in secret and hasn’t been the subject of any public hearings.
Paul said in a published statement Wednesday that “too many Republicans are falling all over themselves to stuff hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars into a bill that doesn’t repeal Obamacare and feeds Big Insurance a huge bailout.”
“I’m afraid the bill they will bring to the floor this week for a vote next week is not repeal. Not even close,” he said. Paul called it “Obamacare-Lite.”
The new bill leaves much of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act structure in place, but in a bid to attract skeptical conservatives, it reduces subsidies, cuts taxes for the wealthy and opens the door to bare-bones insurance plans that don’t cover care that’s currently mandatory, including care for pre-existing conditions.
One change in the Better Care Reconciliation Act, though, is aimed at moderates: a big increase in its proposed funding to combat opioid addiction, which was upped from $2 billion in the first draft to $45 billion in the new plan. It also adds $70 billion to help hold down premiums.
Critics point out, though, that big cuts in anticipated Medicaid funding more than outweigh those specific gains. Medicaid, which helps provide medical care for low-income Americans, many of them children or the elderly, would be converted from an open-ended program to a series of block grants to states.
The GOP measure would slow Medicaid’s growth sharply despite rising demand, the chief reason that millions of people are likely to lose health care coverage, congressional budget analysts have said.
The proposed bill also encourages the use of Health Savings Accounts that allow people to sock away pre-tax cash for medical expenses, a benefit most useful to those with spare cash.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the revised bill is expected Monday. It has said earlier versions would result in at least 22 million fewer Americans with health insurance a decade from now and much higher out-of-pocket costs for most low and middle-income Americans, especially those who are between 50 and 64 years old.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he hopes to hold a vote on the plan next week after senators get a chance to see the new CBO score for the bill.
The House has already approved a health care bill that Trump has called “mean.” The Senate and House have to agree on wording before anything can become law.
Nearly every major medical organization opposes the Republican measure.
This story will be updated.
scollins@sunjournal.com
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
