Donald Trump Healthcare Reform: U.S. Senate Republicans to Unveil New Healthcare Bill
U.S. Senate Republicans are planning to unveil their draft of a new healthcare bill on Thursday, June 22, amid conflicts among members of the Senate over the future of the government's Medicaid program as well as the lowering of insurance costs.
According to NBC News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the announcement on Tuesday, June 20, that he would be releasing a "discussion draft" of the bill to the members of the Republican party and the American public on Thursday. He also said that the legislation will "likely" be voted on as early as next week, before the senators leave Washington for the scheduled recess on July 4.
Republicans in the Senate have been working for weeks on the legislation that will supposedly repeal and replace several provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which the former Democratic President Barack Obama pushed for during his administration and is now popularly referred to as "Obamacare."
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The efforts of the Republicans to come up with a healthcare bill that could replace Obamacare have been hindered by the tensions rising among the moderates and conservatives within the party, and the criticisms of the Democrats, who staged a protest on the Senate floor on Monday, June 19.
"Republicans are writing their healthcare bill under the cover of darkness because they are ashamed of it," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump, who previously campaigned for the U.S. Presidency with a promise to repeal Obamacare, also reportedly commented in private that the bill passed by the House of Representatives last month was "mean" and urged that the Republican-led Senate should bring forth a more "generous" bill than the one narrowly approved by the House.
Under the House plan, an estimated number of 23 million people are at risk of losing their healthcare, according to the Congressional Budget Office. McConnell has already stated on Tuesday that the Senate draft of the healthcare bill would be different from the version approved by the House, although he did not elaborate on the details much further.
