Four Republican senators are preparing to announce their opposition to the new Senate healthcare bill, putting the GOP’s attempt to overhaul Barack Obama’s signature legislation in jeopardy.
Rand Paul of Kentucky told the Associated Press that the draft bill released on Thursday resembled Obamacare too closely and did not go far enough in repealing the former president’s Affordable Care Act.
Paul, a conservative Republican, said he and the other senators were “definitely open to negotiation” but that they needed to make their opposition clear in order to ensure negotiations happened. The other three senators are Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
“The current bill does not repeal Obamacare,” Paul said in a statement. “It does not keep our promises to the American people. I will oppose it coming to the floor in its current form, but I remain open to negotiations.”
Cruz echoed those concerns in his own statement. “This bill draft does not do nearly enough to lower premiums,” said the Texas Republican. “That should be the central issue for Republicans – repealing Obamacare and making healthcare more affordable. Because of this, I cannot support it as currently drafted, and I do not believe it has the votes to pass the Senate.”
The draft bill unveiled by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell met a mixed reaction on Capitol Hill from his own party and severe criticism from Democrats.
The bill, which was the Senate response to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House of Representatives in May, made several changes to the controversial House legislation.
Like their counterparts in the House, Republican senators want to give middle-class Americans tax credits to buy insurance, but those subsidies would still be worth less than those currently provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, and people would also need to earn less money to quality for them.
Additionally, the Senate’s bill, like the one passed by the House, would allow states to decide which benefits insurance must cover. This could herald a return to pre-ACA days, when Americans who bought their own insurance faced expensive riders for coverage such as mental health care, maternity care and addiction treatment.
The bill would also slash Medicaid, which provides health insurance to one in five Americans.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy press secretary at the White House, declined to comment on Trump’s reaction to proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood and Medicaid.