U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, continued to reserve judgment Sunday on whether she will support or reject the health care bill released by Senate Republicans last week.
In an appearance on the ABC News program “This Week,” Collins said she has serious concerns about the cuts the bill would make to Medicaid and how that would affect the most vulnerable older Americans. She said she wants to see the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the bill, expected to be released Monday, before she makes up her mind.
Collins appeared on the show, hosted by George Stephanopoulos, after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. They were interviewed about the draft health care bill unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Thursday.
Collins – a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating Russian meddling in the presidential election, and whose vote on the Senate health care proposal is pivotal – has been a regular on the Sunday morning talk show circuit in recent months.
The Senate health care measure drew immediate fire from centrist and conservative Republican senators and industry officials.
Republican leaders are expected to bring the 142-page bill to a vote this week. It was released after being developed for weeks in secrecy. Conservative senators attacked the measure for not going far enough to undo the Affordable Care Act. Centrist Republicans and medical organizations said the bill would leave millions of Americans without health care or with fewer benefits and would cut Medicaid by $800 billion.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who faces a re-election bid in 2018, held a news conference Friday and raised similar concerns about the Medicaid cuts. Hours after McConnell unveiled the bill Thursday, four other Republican senators said they opposed the measure and several others expressed qualms about it, The Associated Press reported.
Collins said she is also concerned about a provision to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood. She said she is working on an amendment that would keep funding intact. Under questioning by Stephanopoulos, Collins did not say whether the Planned Parenthood funding would make or break her decision on the health care bill. She said Planned Parenthood funding is just one of many factors, “although a very important one,” that she is considering.
She said there are seven to eight other moderate Senate Republicans who share her deep concerns about Medicaid cuts.
The Senate needs support from 50 of its 52 Republicans to pass the bill.
Paul has joined Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah in saying they cannot support the bill as presented but are open to changes to more fully repeal former President Barack Obama’s ACA.
Earlier during the show on Sunday, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, defending the Senate bill, said the measure did not make $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, but after questioning by Stephanopoulos, qualified her remarks.
“We don’t see them as cuts. It’s slowing the rate of growth in the future and getting Medicaid back to where it was,” Conway said.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also appeared on the show to say the Democrats are willing to work with Republicans to improve the ACA.
Paul said he would only vote for the bill if it substantially repealed the ACA, which it does not do as it now stands.
Collins said she is very concerned about the cost of insurance for older people with serious chronic illnesses and about rural hospitals and nursing homes, which are very dependent on the Medicaid program.
“Threading that needle is going to be very, extremely difficult,” she said.
Collins said she disagreed with Conway’s assertions about Medicaid cuts.
“That is why we need the Congressional Budget Office assessment,” Collins said.
Collins said based on what she knows about the inflation rate, she expects the Senate bill to make even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House bill passed earlier this year.
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