Republican U.S. senators have unveiled their version of a health care bill Thursday aimed at repealing the Affordable Care Act, former  President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

After weeks of closed door meetings, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell initially released the bill to the Republican Senate Conference, a group of Republican members of the upper chamber of Congress.

Compromise plan

The legislation was crafted as a compromise between the current health care measure, commonly known as Obamacare, and a measure approved by the House of Representatives last month, according to Republican aides and lobbyists.

The bill would reduce federal funding for Medicaid, a state-based program for low-income people, abolish taxes on the wealthy, and terminate funding for Planned Parenthood, a women’s health care provider, according to a draft that was selectively circulated Wednesday.

Aides and lobbyists who have reviewed the draft say it largely reflects the House version, although there are notable differences. The House measure links federal insurance subsidies to age, while the Senate version bases subsidies on income. The Senate bill ends an expansion of Medicaid funding for states more slowly than the House legislation but imposes larger long-term reductions on the program. The Senate proposal also drops the House’s waivers authorizing states to allow health insurers to increase premiums on some people with pre-existing health conditions.

Vote expected next week 

The closed-door meetings during which the Senate bill was crafted angered Democrats and some Republicans. McConnell hopes the package will garner enough support from moderate and conservative Republicans for a vote he wants to have next week. Republicans familiar with the effort said more work must be done to get the 50 votes needed for approval, with Vice President Mike Pence poised to cast the tiebreaker vote. No Democrats are expected to vote in favor of the measure.

An estimated 23 million people could lose their health care under the plan narrowly passed by the House, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. President Donald Trump called the House bill “mean” in a private setting.

 

  [Read More]

—–
Source: VOA News: Science and Technology