WASHINGTON (AP) – The Republican-run Senate has rejected a GOP proposal to scuttle President Barack Obama’s health care law and give Congress two years to devise a replacement.
Seven Republicans joined all Democrats Wednesday in a 45-55 vote defeating the plan. It was the second self-inflicted setback the GOP has suffered this week in trying to roll back Obama’s 2010 statute.
Conservatives have embraced the effort to repeal the law without an immediate replacement. GOP moderates have worried it would anger voters nervous that Congress would fail to enact a replacement.
Late Tuesday, nine Republicans joined Democrats in blocking a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to dismantle Obama’s law. It would have replaced it with eased coverage requirements for insurers, less generous federal health care subsidies and other changes.
Doctors and a major health insurer group had publicly criticized the bill.
It was called a “skinny repeal,” because it would have only gotten rid of the most unpopular parts of “Obamacare,” such as the requirement that individuals carry health insurance or face fines.
The American Medical Association said in a statement that invites healthy people to opt out of the health insurance market, forcing premiums up for everyone else.
“Eliminating the mandate … only exacerbates the affordability problem,” said the AMA.
That criticism was joined by the BlueCross BlueShield Association. The insurer group also said Congress has to provide money now to help stabilize shaky state markets for individual policies. Insurers want a guarantee that subsidies to help low-income people with their deductibles will continue.
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