Eric Cantor explains all those other votes to repeal Obamacare

It took blood, sweat and tears for Republican leaders to finally push their health care bill through the House last week.

"The Senate is starting from scratch", Sen. "We have worked hard to improve the legislation, but we have a long way to go". She said to replicate Maine's program nationally would cost $15 billion yearly, "which I do not see in the House bill".

"This is a rescue mission", Ryan told ABC's This Week, adding the AHCA's goal is to lower the cost of insurance coverage and make sure that "everyone has access to affordable health care, especially and including people with pre-existing conditions".

State Medicaid data also show that OH schools would lose about $8 million a year in Medicaid funding for special education services under the House bill. Democrats are also refusing to participate in any effort to dismantle Obama's law, while some Republican senators - Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska - object to cutting Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled. Senate leaders say they are writing their own health care bill. Ryan mentioned how repealing Obamacare and overhauling American health care was a promise Republicans have made in past elections and that this was fulfilling a promise to voters.

Governor Charlie Baker's administration has said the Medicaid cuts could leave MA with a budget gap of as much as $2 billion a year.

In a report this week, Fitch Ratings said states would have to make "material, but not impossible" budget changes to absorb the blow. Of course, the Senate is a different animal than the House.

While the House bill that passed by a razor-thin margin on May 4 requires states to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, that coverage might not be affordable, Collins said.

"I don't think anyone in the Senate is going to be bullied into artificial benchmarks or timelines", said Josh Holmes, a GOP consultant and former chief of staff to McConnell. The Senate approved a few of those bills as well, sending them to President Obama for a dead-certain veto.

The flurry of TV appearances underscored not only the importance the Trump administration attaches to the AHCA, but also the daunting task of pushing the bill through the Senate while preserving as much of the content as possible.

Also on Friday, Bloomberg reported that the Senate had formed a 13-member working group to come up with a health care plan that would pass the Senate. "Get rid of the word "repeal" and start talking about repairing", Manchin said. "We never had the driving force of a president we knew would sign the repeal bill", Cantor says. "There's not a Democrat that doesn't realize we need to work on (ObamaCare's) private market".

"We don't anticipate any Democratic help at all, so it will be a simple majority vote situation", McConnell said Saturday, referring to special budget rules that prevent Democrats from filibustering the legislation by passing the bill.

Facing solid Democratic opposition and controlling the Senate 52-48, Republicans can lose only two GOP senators' votes but prevail with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie.

Senate Republicans and top White House officials have already indicated that the House proposal, shepherded by House Speaker Paul Ryan, is likely to undergo changes in the coming weeks and months.