Many Republican senators say they know little about what will be in the plan — and that it’s still being tweaked.
Less than 24 hours from now, Senate Republicans will unveil their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. With just hours to go, many Republican senators say they know little about what will be in the plan — and that it’s still being tweaked. “They’ re still drafting and hope to have it, [from] what they tell us, to us tomorrow and then they’ ll release it publicly, ” Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) told Vox’s Dylan Scott. “We don’ t have the text yet, ” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn told Dylan. “But we’ re gonna get there.” BuzzFeed’s Paul McLeod asked Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) about an important and specific provision in the bill, whether it would allow states to waive out of the Affordable Care Act’s essential health benefits requirement. Here’s what he got back: This suggests one of two things: Neither says great things about the state of health care negotiations. If lots of senators really are in the dark on the health care bill, it means that leadership will need to do a lot of convincing, cajoling, and bargaining over the next week in order to get the 50 votes necessary to pass it. But the second scenario isn’t that great either. One thing that jumps out in these interviews is that senators aren’t rushing to defend this bill on its policy merits. Most discussions about policy revolve around things Republican senators like — like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has voiced concern about Medicaid cuts, or Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has told lots of reporters that he’s concerned the bill keeps too much of Obamacare in place. As my colleagues found when they eight Republican senators why this bill needs to pass, it’s difficult to get a policy defense. It is easier to dodge questions about a health care bill when you can say it’s private and you haven’t read it. It will become a whole lot harder to do this tomorrow when the bill becomes public. Insurers faced a deadline today to decide whether they will sell coverage on the Obamacare marketplaces. We’re still seeing announcements trickle in, but a few stand out: The health insurance startup is the rare health plan that is bullish on the marketplace’s future. It will in New York in 2018 and expand to parts of California, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. Oscar was co-founded by Josh Kushner, who happens to be the brother of senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner. I spent yesterday following Timmy Morrison, a young boy who has benefited from the Affordable Care Act’s ban on lifetime limits. His parents took him to Capitol Hill to lobby senators on the issue. While they waited for a meeting with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) , Timmy’s little sister Ivy took a short nap on the senator’s couch.. Are you an Obamacare enrollee interested in what happens next? Join our for conversation and updates.
