Why the GOP may be in the tank for health care bill

The Senate is likely to approve the Republican health care proposal, which would repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a system of “public option” insurance.
It is the latest step in a GOP push to make sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system that critics say is a major step backward.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who introduced the bill on Wednesday, said the Senate should pass it by a vote of 51 to 49.
Senators have until May 27 to pass the bill, which includes a repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act, and if it does not pass, the legislation is set to go to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that the Senate would vote on the legislation, “if the bill can pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by the president.
The Senate will vote on this legislation tomorrow and if we pass it, we will send it to President Trump for his signed-on signature.
We are confident that he will sign it.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R–La., who is working with Sen. Ron Johnson, R—Wis., to craft a plan that would provide tax credits to help lower-income Americans buy health insurance, said he would support the legislation.
Cassidy, the former Republican health secretary, said Tuesday he is optimistic that it will be approved by the Senate.
“The Senate is moving in the right direction,” he said.
“They’re working with us to find a plan and get this done.
We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
Republican Sens.
Lisa Murkowski, R –Alaska, and Susan Collins, R -Maine, have been pushing for a public option and have already proposed legislation to give subsidies to people purchasing insurance through an insurance exchange.
Senators from both parties have been calling on Republicans to include a public insurance option in the bill.
Sen.(R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said last week that she is “very supportive” of adding the public option.
“But there is also a public cost, particularly for young people, and that’s why I think the public should be a part of this process,” she said.
Collins, who is also working on a health care package that includes a public health care option, said Monday that she has been working with Johnson and Paul on a bill that would create a public plan of care that would include subsidies for people buying insurance through a private insurance exchange that would cover many of the same costs.
Democrats have said they will oppose the bill unless it includes a plan to provide tax subsidies to help low-income people buy insurance.
The Senate’s bill would make major changes to Medicaid and Medicare, two programs that provide health insurance to the poor and disabled.
A CBO analysis found that the GOP bill would cut Medicaid spending by nearly $700 billion and that its elimination of the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid would increase the number of uninsured people by more than 50 million by 2026.
The CBO said the Republican bill would also leave in place the $846 billion cut to Medicare over 10 years, which will mean the program will spend $1.3 trillion less in the coming decade than it did in 2022.
Republicans have also said that the legislation will not eliminate Obamacare’s coverage expansion, which allows Americans to purchase health insurance on the same insurance exchanges that already exist in more than 70 states and would continue to be offered to Americans under the ACA.
Democrats have called this a giveaway to insurance companies and have warned that it would mean millions of Americans losing coverage.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repealing the ACA would cause an additional 13 million to 19 million people to lose their coverage.
Democrats have long been calling for a Medicare-for-all program, but Republican Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has proposed a Medicare for All single-payer system.
The bill that Republicans are likely to pass on Wednesday does not include a Medicare single-payer system.
In the end, the Senate will likely have to pass both the Republican and Democratic bills.
The House is expected to vote on a package of GOP legislation later this month, which could be subject to changes that would have to be approved in the Senate, as well as amendments that would need to be made by Republicans to pass.