Senate GOP reveals healthcare bill to repeal and replace Affordable Care Act

The Senate unveiled a healthcare bill Thursday morning that keeps many of the provisions of a House bill such as eliminating Medicaid expansion and capping benefits.

In promoting the bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it will stabilize the health insurance market by eliminating Affordable Care Act taxes that are passed on to consumers, putting downward pressure on premiums.

The bill continues federal cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers through 2019. The CSRs allow insurers to help lower income consumers pay deductibles.

The bill would repeal the individual and employer mandate, expand tax-free health savings accounts and shift power from Washington to the states, McConnell said.

Republicans are calling the 142-page bill a discussion draft, but the Congressional Budget Office is expected to soon score the bill for a vote prior to the July 4 recess.

The revised bill of the House American Health Care Act has the same provisions to turn the federal Medicaid program over to state control, capping benefits based on the number of beneficiaries in a state.

Federal payments for Medicaid expansion would be phased out for the 31 states and District of Columbia that have expanded the program.

Democrats were quick to condemn both the bill and the procedure for a fast-turnaround on a vote.

The Senate is voting in a week without committee hearings and little floor debate "save for 10 measly hours," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

[Also: Trump, Senate Republicans looking for healthcare bill this summer]

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said this bill, as the House bill, is yet again a tax bill disguised as a health bill

Echoing a comment made by President Trump about the House, Pelosi said the Senate bill is mean, "mean and heartless."

Those ages 50 to 64 will be paying five times more for benefits, she said, and millions will lose coverage.

The bill takes away essential benefits, she said. It shifts financial responsibility to the states, which will be be unable to meet the needs of residents.

The bill will also cost 1.8 million jobs, she said.

[Also: AHCA may result in nearly 1 million jobs lost, harm economy in long run, says Commonwealth Fund]

Former CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt‏, who is a proponent of the ACA tweeted, "The Senate discussion bill is out. It's the ugly step-sibling of the House bill."

The Senate bill has been written in secret with members of the Republican party left in the dark as to its contents until today as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.

McConnell said the bill would stabilize the individual insurance market. It would fund a temporary federal reinsurance program prior to states implementing their own reinsurance programs.

It will eventually transition away from Obamacare's collapsing system entirely, McConnell said.

The bill repeals taxes on HSAs, over the counter medicines and on employee health insurance premiums and health plan benefits

It keeps the ACA's measure to allow children to stay on their parents' insurance until the age of 26.

Tax credits to help people buy insurance in the individual market would be offered to those with incomes up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level, below the ACA's current limit of 400 percent of FPL.

The bill would not allow states to waive ACA requirements that insurers accept everyone and charge the same rates, as the House bill had done, according to Politico.

Twitter: @SusanJMorse