After the visible discontent showed by the members of the senate to the proposed health care bill earlier in the week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing to rewrite the bill and resubmit to the Congressional Budget Office for reassessment. The senator is hoping for a swift and favourable assessment so that the bill can be passed before the senate recess in august. However, the aftermath of the Congressional Budget Office report on the original bill has led to infighting in the senate. The infighting is more evident with republican senators who have different policy agenda and have clashed with respect to the bill.
In a bid to chart a way forward for the embattled bill, members of the Grand Old Party held a lunch meeting on Wednesday championed by the majority leader. The lunch however ended in a deadlock as republican senators could not agree on a way forward for the bill. Major dispute at the lunch arose between conservative republican Ted Cruz who is representing Texas and moderates led by Susan Collins of Maine.
The disagreement over the bill, by the senators rest in one major issue which is the Consumer Freedom principle championed by Cruz. The proposal opens the door for companies to sell health insurance that do not meet the Affordable Care Act standard. Moderates disagreed with the proposal on the ground that it would pave the way for companies to segregate against sicker citizens in getting health care.
The discussion at the lunch did not however yield any productive result as one senator described the discussions as just “running in circles”. Senator Cruz, a former presidential candidate for the GOP, said most of the discussion at the lunch was to “reduce premiums to make health insurance more affordable for families who are struggling.”
President Trump in responding to the setback that the bill has had said “Democrats purposely misstated Medicaid under new Senate bill — actually goes up,” However some have questioned the president’s understanding of the issues in the bill.
The bill which is supposed to be a land mark achievement for the president is turning out to be a banana peel.