GOP’s healthcare backup plan collapses

The GOP’s shift to repeal Obamacare and delay its replacement quickly failed to get off the ground Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Monday evening Republicans would abandon his healthcare bill and instead separate repeal and replace efforts. In January 2016, Republicans passed a reconciliation bill to defund Obamacare without restructuring its regulations, but then-President Barack Obama quickly vetoed the measure. McConnell said Republicans would resurrect the effort and get the bill back to the president’s desk. But within hours, three Republican senators opposed the plan, killing the GOP’s hope for healthcare reform again. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., all announced they would not consider a bill that repeals Obamacare without a replacement plan ready to go. Trump blamed Democrats and a “few Republicans” for obstructing healthcare reform and suggested the Senate remove its legislative filibuster. He told reporters on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” and the plan now is to “just let Obamacare fail.” But he was clear on who will bear responsibility for destabilizing healthcare markets: “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it.”