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| Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |
- The latest version of the plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would leave 22 million people more uninsured by 2026, according to the latest report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. [Congressional Budget Office]
- As expected, the bill would predominantly affect the poor. Many of those people who would lose insurance are low-income Medicaid recipients, as the bill would cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade. [Vox / Dylan Scott]
- ...It’s...an extremely high number of uninsured people, and could prove to be too much for some Senate Republicans, who will decide the bill's fate.
- Still, the bill is hurtling toward a vote before the upcoming July 4 recess. The bill was released on Thursday, and there are just a few more days until senators are expected to vote. A big consequence of the speedy process is less time to catch gaps in the bill, some of which have already been discovered. [Vox / Sarah Kliff]
- One of the issues with the bill that consumer advocates recently noticed is that it could raise health insurance premiums for small businesses. Another glaring omission was the initial lack of a continuous coverage clause, which would penalize Americans for not maintaining their health insurance. That had been left out of the bill’s original draft, but made it into a newer draft released on Monday. [Vox / Sarah Kliff and Dylan Scott]
- Right now, one of Mitch McConnell’s toughest challenges is satisfying concerns of both far-right Republicans and those in the middle, like Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Murkowski has said she won’t vote for a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood (which this one does, for one year). [NYT / Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan]
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| Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, opposes the bill, saying it does not do enough to lower health costs. Al Drago for The New York Times |
- Then there are the conservatives. Republican senators including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin say the bill simply doesn’t go far enough to cut costs. Johnson has also said he thinks there’s far too little time before the vote. [NYT / Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan]
- No matter the outcome, the bill simply does not make good on Donald Trump's repeated promise to lower health costs for Americans. During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised “insurance for everybody” that would be cheaper, and told his supporters he would not cut expanded Medicaid. [Washington Post / John Wagner, Abby Phillip, and Jenna Johnson]
- For more health care coverage, don't miss Vox's daily health care newsletter, edited by Sarah Kliff. [Click here to subscribe automatically for this email address.]