Senate leaders are meeting with healthcare holdouts in an effort to reach a deal on partially repealing and replacing Obamacare by the end of the week, but some senators are skeptical they will leave for the July 4 recess with an agreement in hand.
Senate leaders scrapped a planned vote this week on their healthcare bill because it didn’t have enough votes. Several senators said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to reach a deal on healthcare by the end of the week and have the Senate vote after returning from the week-long recess on July 10.
But major divides among conservatives and centrists over funding for Medicaid, repealing Obamacare’s insurer mandates and money to fight opioid abuse are blocking any agreement.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a centrist who opposes the bill, said a deal this week is “going to be very difficult.”
However, she said meetings such as the luncheon “where people have a chance to advance their ideas and have a full debate on them are valuable in trying to reach an agreement.”
Other senators are fairly optimistic. When asked about how to bridge the divisions between centrists and conservatives, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., used a nature metaphor to prove his point.
“Even porcupines make love,” he said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said leaving the GOP luncheon that there “is a whole raft of things that people are talking about and some of it is trimming around the edges and some of it is more fundamental.”
McConnell met with a handful of senators Wednesday to listen to their concerns.
“In a sense I laid out my concerns and they indicated a willingness to work with us,” Cassidy said as he left a meeting with McConnell. “That does not necessarily mean they are addressed. On the other hand, I want to get to yes.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who opposes the bill, met with McConnell earlier Wednesday and said that she wanted to talk about changing Medicaid’s growth rate and providing $45 billion for tackling opioid abuse.
So did Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
He also met with Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
“There are a lot of assumptions and a lot of them are a little bit speculative,” Sullivan said about the analyses of the GOP healthcare plan. “Getting more numbers from [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator] Seema Verma and others is a really important part of working though this.”
Verma also attended the GOP luncheon.
But it is not clear if McConnell can reach a deal by the end of the week.
Nine senators have announced their opposition to the bill, and they are on different sides of the ideological spectrum. Centrists are upset about the impact of about $770 billion in cuts to Medicaid, and conservatives believe the bill doesn’t go far enough in repealing Obamacare’s insurance regulations that they say are driving up the cost of health insurance.
Some senators also are starting to question repealing a tax on investments by high-income earners.
A senior Republican aide told the Washington Examiner that talks are continuing with the Republican conference and with the Congressional Budget Office on changes to the bill.
The CBO on Monday estimated that the bill would result in 22 million people going without insurance over the next decade and force higher out-of-pocket costs on low-income people getting tax credits on the individual market.
Senators said Tuesday that the goal from leadership was to reach a deal by Friday and then give CBO all of next week to score any changes. Then the Senate would hold a final vote shortly after it returns.
Some senators welcomed the initial delay, saying it gave them time to hash out key changes.
“One of the reasons I was hoping for a delay is I think that would be a real advantage for the reforms they are trying to make,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, S.D.
Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report.
