Senate Republicans Unveil Health Care Draft Bill

Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled their health care bill draft that is the product of 13 members belonging to a working group. The draft, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, will be introduced as an amendment to H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).

The House passed the AHCA on May 4 after weeks of negotiations and direct presidential involvement.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kty., established a working group to basically start all over. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said during a press conference shortly after the draft was released that he had been briefed on the bill and understands that it closely resembles the measure the lower House passed.

But with a slim 52-vote majority and Democrats vowing to obstruct, the GOP can only afford to lose two party line votes on the bill. People’s Pundit Daily has learned that at least 3 will release a statement shortly announcing they cannot support the bill in its present form.

Leader McConnell, who along with other congressional leaders met two weeks ago with President Donald J. Trump at the White House to discuss the legislative agenda for the remainder of the year, imposed a July 4 deadline to vote on the bill. On the Senate floor, he said the U.S. Senate would open up the draft healthcare bill to amendments from Republicans and Democrats.

The Senate added a Short-Term Stabilization Fund that aims to balance premium costs and more choice in insurance markets. The fund would appropriates $15 billion per year in 2018 and 2019 to prevent loss of coverage and access. In 2020 and 2021, it provides an additional $10 billion per year.

Individual insurance markets have been collapsing around the county as insurers pull out of the ObamaCare exchanges. This week, Anthem announced they will pull out of the Midwest.

[pdfviewer width=”740px” height=”849px” beta=”true/false”]https://www.peoplespunditdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SENATE-HEALTHCARE.pdf[/pdfviewer]