The secret Senate healthcare bill is no longer a secret.
Thursday, Senate republicans released 142 page document outlining the bill that could become the replacement for Obamacare.
The do-or-die effort for Republicans on the Hill in their closing chances to modify the Nations healthcare system has still proposed massive changes to how American’s will obtain coverage. This is even after the proposed House bill was meant with so much disdain and criticism.
The Senate bill will still tow the conservative republican line by drastically cutting back the support of Medicaid, eliminate Obamacare’s taxes on the wealthy and defund Planned Parenthood for a year. However the new piece of legislation will keep Obamacare’s subsidies in an effort to help American’s pay for individual coverage.
You can read the full text of the bill here.
Although senate republicans only need a simple majority for the bill to pass, they still have little room for error. Some republican senators like, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) have made mention in the past that they will not support a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. Mukowski and Collins voting against this new bill could make all the difference as Senate leader Mitch McConnell can only afford to lose two republican votes if all democrats vote against the bill.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul referred to the House bill as “Obamacare Lite” after it kept some of the same provisions as the Affordable Care Act.
However a big determining factor on votes will be what the Congressional Budget Office says about the bill. For the House legislation, the CBO determined that 23 million fewer people would be insured by 2026.
The CBO is expected to deliver their score on the Senate bill early next week.