Trump camp plans attack ads against health care bill holdout

Phillips and Davis explained that while they are disappointed, they will continue to push to reform the US health care apparatus into a viable system that provides quality, affordable care for all Americans.

While the legislation reserves $2 billion to help people deal with substance abuse and addiction, critics say the major cuts to Medicaid spending would not help the crisis, and the $2 billion fund would not make up for the cuts. "They get nothing under the ACA", said Larry Levitt, of the Kaiser Health Foundation. We see exactly what you're doing - and you should expect to be held fully accountable.

ROVNER: It differs in some significant ways. The Senate would determine who gets tax credits to help buy insurance by income, rather than age. They value tax cuts for the rich over health care for the poor. And plans might be able to offer less coverage. The question is whether they can afford to make premium payments.

After seven years of attacking Obamacare as everything from a socialist conspiracy to a plot to pull the plug on grandma and after three years of complaining about Obamacare's high premiums and deductibles, the Republicans' long-promised replacement is effectively just Obamacare with much higher costs for consumers. "We have four very good people, and it's not that they're opposed".

There are a few distinctions, though I wouldn't call them real differences.

But White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Friday said President Trump is "committed to making sure that no one who now is in the Medicaid program is affected in any way, which is reflected in the Senate bill, and he's pleased with that".

Republicans view the law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, as a costly government intrusion and say individual insurance markets created by it are collapsing. They've borne the full brunt of these increased premiums.

"The Freedom Caucus strongly supports going to conference with the Senate on healthcare legislation", the source said. Of course, the other big piece of this bill that has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act is a capping of federal funding for the Medicaid program, which is something that Republicans have been trying to do since Ronald Reagan was president.

The Senate bill, which GOP leaders unveiled Thursday, looks an very bad lot like the bill that the House passed in May.

ROVNER: It's somewhat similar to the House bill, although the cuts would go even deeper.

The Senate legislation would phase out extra federal money Nevada and 30 other states receive for expanding Medicaid to additional low earners. And that amount is going to go up every year slightly, but in the Senate bill would be based on just regular inflation, whereas medical inflation has always been faster.

Obamacare: Expanded the insurance program by raising income threshold; widened eligibility in states that expanded Medicaid.

States would also be allowed - not required - to impose work requirements for Medicaid, although those requirements would not apply to pregnant women, the elderly or the disabled. Many doctors already refuse to accept new Medicaid patients because the program's reimbursement rates are generally lower than private insurers and Medicare.

But the six-month waiting period could also complicate the Senate Republicans' repeal efforts, because it may run afoul of the chamber's complex reconciliation rules.

Democrats are united in opposition to the proposal, which was worked out in secret by a group led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Heller said that to win his vote, GOP leaders would have to "protect Medicaid expansion states" from the bill's current cuts. Now, this is a discussion draft. But some employers had hoped the Senate would have made changes when it came to drugs that treat chronic diseases. If they make it better for conservatives, the moderates will peel off. But he put the fate of the bill in McConnell's hands.

MARTIN: That's Julie Rovner.