GOP senators now oppose health care bill as written

Senate Republicans are painting the new plan as less austere than the House Bill which, according to a forecast by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), would leave 23 million fewer people insured than under current law.

That could result in millions of Americans losing health care coverage. Some of the GOP senators he'll need to persuade have built their own separate political identities in their home states and may be less inclined to embrace Trump.

The proposal would by 2024 phase out funding for states like Kentucky that elected to expand their Medicaid programs under Obamacare. It would let insurers provide fewer benefits, offer less generous subsidies than Obama to help people buy policies and end the statute's tax penalties on people who don't buy policies and on larger firms that don't offer coverage to workers.

"Because of this, I can not support it as now drafted, and I do not believe it has the votes to pass the Senate".

Under special rules McConnell is using that will block Democrats from using a filibuster to kill the bill, the legislation can not include provisions that make policy changes that don't primarily affect the budget.

Bob Casey made an appearance at the state Capitol to join state officials in condemning the latest healthcare bill.

Release of the 142-page proposal ended the long wait for one of the most closely guarded bills in years. At least try it in the states that voted for it.

Lawmakers will be "looking to see if there are things that we can do to refine it, and make it more acceptable to more members in our conference, to get to 50", Senator John Thune said.

"No amount of eleventh hour reality-denying or buck-passing by Democrats is going to change the fact that more Americans are going to get hurt unless we do something", he said.

Obama law: People cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing medical problems, nor can they be charged more because of poor health. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Senate Republicans on Thursday morning released a draft of their secretive Obamacare replacement bill, called the "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017".

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) announced Friday that he is opposed to the Obamacare repeal legislation unveiled by Senate GOP leadership this week in its current form and that he won't vote to advance if it is brought up for a procedural vote early next week. However, the four senators do appear open to negotiations and amendments that could turn their "no" to a "yes". "It's frustrating that instead of actually reviewing the legislative text some have made a decision to immediately oppose the bill before it was even introduced".

"When you take a step back and think about the size of these cuts, they are just unprecedented", said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a consulting firm.

Others, like Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of OH, have pointed to concerns about the proposal's cuts to Medicaid. And Susan Collins of ME reiterated her opposition to language blocking federal money for Planned Parenthood, which many Republicans oppose because it provides abortions. But older adults and people who require comprehensive coverage are likely to pay more.

Obama weighed in on Facebook. Though Trump lauded its passage in a Rose Garden ceremony, he called the House measure "mean" last week. It would also cut spending and thus reduce the federal deficit. Those additional funds would continue through 2020, then gradually fall and disappear entirely in 2024. It penalized anyone who failed to buy insurance.

Senate GOP bill: Premium subsidies are keyed to income, age and geography, and are more tightly focused on lower-income people.

Not so, said Tara O'Neill Hayes, deputy director of health care policy at the conservative American Action Forum.

Montgomery said she was particularly anxious about the access to health care in more rural Montana communities, and the effect any change would have on the health care industry in the state. Trump has been threatening to discontinue those payments, and some insurance companies have cited uncertainty as a reason they are abandoning some markets and boosting premiums.