Republicans are one vote away from dooming the new Obamacare “repeal and delay” strategy announced only a night before by GOP leaders.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., on Tuesday announced her opposition to the bill, the same piece of legislation she voted to pass in 2015 under former President Barack Obama, who vetoed the measure.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against the 2015 bill, the only current GOP senator to have done so, and has said she would not support repeal without a replacement. She has called for Republicans to work with Democrats on changes to the healthcare system, and to hold public hearings.
“I do not think that it’s constructive to repeal a law that is so interwoven within our healthcare system without having a replacement plan in place,” she said in a statement released Tuesday. “We can’t just hope that we will pass a replacement within the next two years. Repealing without a replacement would create great uncertainty for individuals who rely on the ACA and cause further turmoil in the insurance markets.”
With Sen. John McCain at home in Arizona recovering from surgery, Senate Republicans do not have enough votes to push through a repeal and delay bill this week.
Senate Republicans had been working on a bill in recent months to repeal portions of Obamacare and immediately replace it, but deep divisions surfaced over how the bill would affect premiums, the Medicaid program and uninsurance rolls.
Upon realizing they would not have the votes to move forward soon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he would take up a House health bill that passed the lower chamber in May, but with the first amendment being a 2015 repeal bill that provided a two-year delay to come up with an alternate plan.
Capito explained in a statement she would not support the delay because of the Medicaid rollback. Some states under Obamacare expanded the Medicaid program to low-income people. The GOP healthcare plan would undo expansion in these states, including in West Virginia.
“As I have said before, I did not come to Washington to hurt people,” Capito said. “For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefited from West Virginia’s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis. All of the Senate healthcare discussion drafts have failed to address these concerns adequately.”
On Twitter, she added, “I will only vote to proceed to repeal legislation if I am confident there is a replacement plan that addresses my concerns.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who also supported the 2015 measure, announced reservations on Tuesday and said he wanted to see an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. The score the CBO offered on the bill earlier this year projected that 32 million more people would be uninsured in a decade, 18 million of them in 2018, and premiums next year would rise by at least 20 percent.
“I have to look and see what the so-called repeal bill entails,” he told reporters. “But if it is a bill that simply repeals I believe it will add to more uncertainty.”
“I’m concerned about something that would simply repeal and its impact on costs and choices in healthcare.”
