With two Republican senators declaring their intention to oppose the revised Senate Health Care bill, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been forced to delay the bill again. Senator John McCain is recuperating from surgery and McConnell announced on Saturday that consideration of the legislation will have to wait until McCain recovers.
Obstacles to the revised legislation
The Republicans have a 52-48 margin control in the Senate and require a minimum of 50 yes votes to proceed with legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, making Senator John McCain's vote critical to the survival of the legislation.
Just last month, a vote on an earlier version of the bill had to be cancelled in the face of possible defeat. Two Republicans, Rand Paul and moderate Susan Collins are opposed to the new Senate bill, while many other Republican senators have voiced their concerns over the new version of the bill.
An unfulfilled promise
The repeal and replace of Obamacare was a major promise of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and it has long been the dream of Republicans in the house to see the end of a bill they agonised over for many years. President Trump continues to put pressure on the senate committee to do something about it, even suggesting a repeal now and a replace later option. While at the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, Trump said that after years of suffering through Obamacare, Republican senators had to fulfil their promise.
The Ted Cruz provision
One major sticking point in the revised healthcare bill is a provision by Senator Ted Cruz to appease wary conservatives. The provision allows insurance companies to sell lower valued, cheaper policies that would not include the same benefits enjoyed by those who were insured under the Affordable Care Act (nicknamed Obamacare).
But some major insurance companies are not happy with this new clause and are asking that it be removed from the bill. Blue Cross and Blue Shield and America's Health Insurance, have expressed concerns about the adverse effects the proposal would have on patients and the stability of the insurance market.
The fate of the bill
The Senate Health Care bill faces an uncertain future. Mitch McConnell had hoped to have the legislation voted on this week. Senator McCain underwent surgery to remove a blood clot and will be recovering for about a week resulting in a delay of the vote. This has brought the Republican Health Care committee some precious time to fine tune the bill and garner more support from uncommitted parties.
