Conservative Sen. Mike Lee further explained his opposition to Senate Republican’s healthcare bill in a statement Friday night in which he called the effort “far short” of an Obamacare repeal.
“Far short of ‘repeal,’ the Senate bill keeps the Democrats’ broken system intact, just with less spending on the poor to pay for corporate bailouts and tax cuts,” said Lee, R-Utah, bemoaning that conservatives have “compromised on every substantive question in the bill.”
“A cynic might say that the [bill] is less a Republican health care bill than a caricature of a Republican health care bill,” Lee added.
But Lee, who already was one of five Republicans to announce his intent to vote against the bill — enough to derail its passage — conceded he could support the legislation if it were amended to allow states and individuals more flexibility.
“For all my frustrations about the process and my disagreements with the substance of [the bill], I would still be willing to vote for it if it allowed states and/or individuals to opt out of the Obamacare system free-and-clear to experiment with different forms of insurance, benefits packages, and care provision options,” Lee said. “Liberal states might try single-payer systems, while conservatives might emphasize health savings accounts. Some people embrace association health plans or so-called ‘medishare’ ministry models. My guess is different approaches will work for different people in different places – like everything else in life.”
Senate Republicans on Thursday released their plan to repeal and replace portions of Obamacare.
The bill would make significant changes to the structure of Medicaid, roll back the individual and employer mandate, aim to stabilize the Obamacare exchanges for a few years and give states a broad range of flexibility to make changes to healthcare plans.
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week.
Four GOP Senators — Lee, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — issued a brief joint statement of disapproval on Thursday.
On Friday, a fifth Republican senator, Dean Heller of Nevada, announced he would not vote for the bill without significant revisions.
Republicans can afford to lose only the votes of two members — assuming all Democrats oppose the bill — for it to pass under reconciliation, or with a simple majority.
