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With only three weeks left before a summer recess scheduled to stretch until Sept. 5, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared determined to keep trying to find agreement on a partisan, all-Republican bill. If he cannot, he will be faced with giving up on a seven-year Republican promise to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare - and possibly turning to Democrats for help in fixing problems with U.S. health insurance markets. (Cornwell and Becker, 7/10)

"We need to start voting" on the GOP bill scuttling much of President Barack Obama's health care law, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas told reporters Monday. Some Republicans said a revised version of the bill could be introduced Thursday, and Cornyn said the "goal" was for a vote next week. (Fram and Werner, 7/11)

A total of 10 Republican senators have said they cannot support the Senate bill unveiled on June 22 without changes. (Bolton, 7/11)

The biggest sticking point in recent days has centered on a provision supported by GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah that would allow insurers that sell plans complying with ACA regulations to also sell health policies that don’t. Health analysts say that would likely lower premiums for younger, healthier people, who would buy more limited policies, while causing premiums to rise for people with pre-existing conditions, who would buy the more comprehensive plans that comply with the ACA. (Peterson, 7/10)

“Too many seem to have forgotten that even more people will be hurt if the Obamacare status quo is allowed to continue,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said as he opened the Senate. “Today it sits on the edge of total meltdown,” McConnell said. “Unless we do something about that, even more Americans are going to get hurt.” (Dupree, 7/10)

Ted Cruz’s plan to give insurers freedom to sell plans that don’t comply with Obamacare’s insurance regulations may be conservatives’ last best chance to salvage the stalled Senate health care bill. But it might also send Obamacare insurance markets into a death spiral. (Demko, 7/11)

Senate Republican leaders say whether they make a controversial conservative change to their healthcare bill depends on the results of an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. The proposal from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), which is key to winning their support, is currently being analyzed by the CBO. (Sullivan, 7/10)

No one was terribly surprised that some centrist Republican senators like Maine's Susan Collins balked at backing a bill to roll back Obamacare's coverage expansions, weaken its consumer protections, and slash Medicaid. But what about Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who led the GOP's successful campaign to win control of the Senate in 2014? When a conservative party stalwart like Moran from a deep-red state voices opposition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell knows he has big trouble ahead in securing the votes of 50 of his 52 GOP colleagues to pass his repeal-and-replace bill. (Meyer, 7/10)

At this point, some health policy experts say it's more likely than not that Senate Republicans can't pass a health-care bill. That's because Republicans are relying entirely on their own party to pass this legislation, and Senate leaders need 50 of their 52 members on board to pass a bill. (Democrats won't play ball as long as Republicans' intent is to repeal Obamacare.) (Phillips, 7/10)

The Senate returns from its Fourth of July break this week without a firm strategy on how to move forward on a health care bill that has little public support and has split Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to fashion a bill that would win 50 votes, probably all Republican, which would allow Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking ballot. (Radelat, 7/10)

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst faced a barrage of questions on health care, but offered few firm answers at an early-morning town meeting here Monday. Ernst, a Republican, declined to take a position on the GOP-written health care bill now under consideration in the Senate, telling a crowd of about 150 at the forum and reporters in a press conference afterward that she wanted to see changes to the bill before publicly declaring her support. (Noble, 7/10)

Two days after Sen. Rob Portman announced that he couldn't support the bill advanced by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, the CEOs of the MetroHealth System, UC Health, Summa Health System, Premier Health and Sisters of Charity Health System sent Portman a joint letter to thank him for his opposition and urge him to "remain steadfast unless our patients - your constituents - and the providers they trust to take care of them are better protected"... The CEOs' letter said Medicaid cuts in the bill would harm low-income communities in Ohio and their medical providers. (Eaton, 7/10)

Police arrested 80 health care protesters Monday at more than a dozen offices around the U.S. Capitol, including several who laid down and tried to block the doorway to the offices of Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Several were detained after a group entered Cruz's office in the Senate's Russell building and stood chanting for about 15 to 20 minutes, according to congressional staffers who witnessed the incident. There were no reports of violence, but officers were seen carrying at least one protester out of the building. Others were led out in plastic cuffs. (Diaz, 7/10)