US Senate Republicans hesitate on Obamacare repeal bill
US Senate Republicans have announced that they plan to make major changes to the Obamacare replacement legislation that was pushed through the US House of Representatives, less than a day after the bill was approved by the House Rules Committee.
“We’re writing a Senate bill and not passing the House bill,” said Senator Lamar Alexander. “We’ll take whatever good ideas we find there that meet our goals.”
He added that in the condition that the Senate passes its own bill, the House will either have to approve the Senate version or negotiate a compromise with senators.
Hence, any compromise bill would need to be endorsed by both the Senate and the House prior to being sent to US President Donald Trump to sign.
Republicans had already criticized Obamacare as an excessive government intrusion into the health care market and contended that it was harming economic growth by burdening businesses.
They were forced to pull the same bill in March because of a lack of votes, with US House Speaker Paul Ryan admitting that the party was not able to reach consensus on the replacement bill.
Senator Lindsey Graham said, “Like y’all, I’m still waiting to see if it’s a boy or a girl.”
“Any bill that has been posted less than 24 hours, going to be debated three or four hours, not scored? Needs to be viewed with suspicion,” he added.
On Thursday, The US House of Representatives narrowly passed legislation with 217 to 213 votes to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program, known as Obamacare.
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The Affordable Care Act was designed to increase health insurance quality and affordability, lower the uninsured rate by expanding insurance coverage and reduce the costs of healthcare.
Obama defends his popular plan for American insurers.
It introduced mechanisms including mandates, subsidies, and insurance exchanges. The law requires insurers to accept all applicants, cover a specific list of conditions and charge the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions or sex.
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