Add Category
Updated
US Senate Republicans have launched their plan for shrivelling Barack Obama's health care law, edging a step closer to their dream of repeal with a bill that would slice and reshape Medicaid for the poor.
Release of the 142-page proposal aimed at repealing Mr Obama's Affordable Care Act ended the long wait for one of the most closely guarded bills in years.
The proposal detailed that Republicans are planning to relax rules on insurers and end tax increases on higher earners that have helped finance coverage for millions of Americans.
On Twitter, US President Donald Trump responded that he was "very supportive" of a bill that he is looking forward to "making really special" since "Obamacare is dead".
But in a nearly 1,000-word letter, former president Barack Obama appeared to decisively break his silence on the issue of American health care — a bedrock of his presidency — to slam the proposal as "fundamental meanness" that is "tough to fathom".
"The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill," Mr Obama wrote.
"Simply put, if there's a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family — this bill will do you harm."
The former president opened and closed the letter by stressing that the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — was implemented by his administration not to score political points, but to make people's lives better on both sides of the political spectrum.
"After all, this debate has always been about something bigger than politics. It's about the character of our country — who we are, and who we aspire to be," Mr Obama wrote.
"And that's always worth fighting for."
Following the release of the proposal, protesters gathered outside Capitol Hill in Washington, while several Republican senators also seemed to echo Mr Obama's bipartisan pleas.
A statement from Republican senator Rand Paul and three other conservatives made clear that they were "not ready to vote" for it — Democrats need the support of only three Republicans to quash the measure in the Republican-led chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated he was open to discussion and seemed determined to muscle the measure through his chamber next week.
Mr McConnell stitched it together behind closed doors, potentially moving Mr Trump and the GOP toward achieving perhaps their fondest goal — repealing former Mr Obama's 2010 statute, his proudest domestic legacy.
"We have to act," Senator McConnell said.
"Because Obamacare is a direct attack on the middle class, and American families deserve better than its failing status quo."
But despite the heavy words, Senator McConnell must navigate a narrow route in pushing forward the bill in which defections by just three of the 52 Republican senators would doom the legislation.
"To put the American people through [such] pain — while giving billionaires and corporations a massive tax cut in return — that's tough to fathom," Mr Obama wrote.
"But it's what's at stake right now. So it remains my fervent hope that we step back and try to deliver on what the American people need.
"I still hope that there are enough Republicans in Congress who remember that public service is not about sport or notching a political win, that there's a reason we all chose to serve in the first place, and that hopefully, it's to make people's lives better, not worse."
ABC/wires
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, united-states
First posted