Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
What's The Path Forward For The Senate Health Care Bill?
In a test of his leadership, Mr. McConnell now will need to bridge a divide between conservative Republicans, who say the bill retains too many of the ACA鈥檚 regulations to significantly lower premiums, and GOP centrists, who worry the legislation goes too far in cutting funding to Medicaid. (Armour and Peterson, 6/27)
The seasoned GOP leader will be aided by what amounts to a $200-billion piggy bank to push Republicans holdouts over the line. That鈥檚 the bill鈥檚 extra savings compared with the House version that McConnell can tap to provide perks to individual senators, from more opioid assistance to expanded tax-free health savings accounts. A similar strategy 鈥 delay and enticements 鈥 worked well in the House, where Republicans last month passed their healthcare bill on the third try. (Mascaro, 6/27)
Just how realistic a vote is after July聽4 remains unclear. At least one senator who had publicly opposed the procedural vote McConnell had hoped to take Tuesday 鈥 Dean Heller (Nev.) 鈥 indicated that he was willing to reconsider his initial opposition, if the bill was going to be reworked. At the White House, Heller playfully but pointedly complained about a Trump-allied super PAC that was airing ads against him in Nevada. By Tuesday night, the group had decided to pull the ads, and Heller had signaled to McConnell that he would continue to engage 鈥 far from a 鈥測es鈥 vote, but open to discussing his concerns. (Sullivan, Snell and Eilperin, 6/27)
GOP leaders seemed surprised by the extent of the objections from within their party. At least five Republicans made clear ahead of time that they weren鈥檛 ready to advance the measure this week. and another three Republicans announced their opposition after McConnell delayed the vote. (Litvan, 6/28)
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced Monday night that she would vote against a procedural motion on the Senate health care repeal bill and said that unless the bill changed significantly she would vote against the bill itself. Majority leader Mitch McConnell should not even try to negotiate with Collins. (Pindell, 6/27)
Georgia鈥檚 two U.S. senators were planning to join many of their GOP colleagues at the White House Tuesday afternoon after Senate leaders abruptly hit the breaks on a health care overhaul they had been planning to bring to a vote later this week. Republicans David Perdue and Johnny Isakson both voiced support for their party leaders鈥 decision to take the July 4th recess to rework their Obamacare replacement legislation after it became clear there were not enough votes as written. (Hallerman, 6/27)
Mitch McConnell has little margin for error as he tries to salvage the Senate鈥檚 Obamacare repeal effort over the July 4 break. (Cancryn, 6/27)
Here鈥檚 what to expect as the debate on health care moves forward. (Jamerson, 6/27)
As Senate Republicans struggle to find the votes to repeal聽the Affordable Care Act, the architects of Obamacare have an idea to try if they fail. Just fix it. (Page, 6/27)