Senate GOP leaders unveil long-awaited healthcare bill

Senate Republicans unveiled a 142-page draft healthcare bill Thursday and now begin the arduous task of getting enough lawmakers to vote for it. House Republicans passed their version of an Obamacare fix by the slimmest of margins on May 4, and Senate GOP leaders have worked in secret for weeks on their own version. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., met with the full Republican caucus to discuss the bill’s contents for the first time Thursday morning. McConnell wants them to vote on the healthcare package as soon as next week, after likely receiving a Congressional Budget Office score on Monday. The bill’s language is not final and allows Republicans to tweak its provisions. The draft retains several parts of the House bill, including repealing most Obamacare taxes, sunsetting state Medicaid expansions, and abolishing the individual mandate to purchase coverage and the employer mandate to offer it. But the bill does not retain the House’s idea to allow states to opt out of covering certain preexisting conditions—a key provision that allowed skeptical conservatives to sign on. The draft bill also omits pro-life protections on refundable tax credits but does retain language to defund Planned Parenthood for one year. The Senate can lose support from no more than two Republicans in order to pass the legislation. If it succeeds, the bill will go back to the House for another vote before the president can sign it into law.

We Sift the news so you don’t have to.