Senate Republicans released their 142-page draft healthcare bill. It makes deep revisions to the Affordable Care Act by eliminating mandatory purchases, cutting taxes and pulling out of Medicaid expansion.
The 142-page document prepared by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Kentucky) team – largely behind closed doors – is similar to the Obamacare repeal bill passed last month by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
The Senate measure offers generous premium subsidies for some low-income buyers of insurance compared with the House version.
The draft bill, however, cuts federal funding to Medicaid which will force states to make deep cuts to their healthcare programs for the poor. An expansion of Medicaid benefits currently offered under Obamacare would be phased out beginning in 2020 and shut down completely by 2023, senators said.
“This is a tax bill disguised as a health bill,” Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told reporters on Thursday. “It increases costs for fewer benefits as the House bill does.”
“We will see what the working [Senate] draft does to job losses,” she added. The draft still has to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.