After he returned from the G20 summit in Germany, US President Trump made another headline by daring the Congress to pass the proposed Healthcare Bill at the earliest. His recent tweet is a clear challenge to The Senate Republicans who returned to Washington after a ten-day break. Only three weeks remain till the summer recess and the lawmakers are still having disagreements with overhauling Barack Obama's signature health law, popularly known as the Obamacare.
The proposed amendments
The Affordable Care Act was proposed in 2010 and Trump made a pledge to Repeal and Replace the same during his Presidential campaign last year.
Since the Republicans won the 2016 elections and took control of the Congress, they have been in a tricky situation to amend the health care laws.
Ted Cruz, a senior Conservative Republican Senator offered to choose cheaper healthcare plans like covering costs for prescription drugs and maternity care. He also proposed health insurers to sell cheaper affordable plans for poor Americans. The health insurance companies charge the sick and the healthy at par. Cruz and several other conservatives debated that this will lower the premium rates on healthy Americans.
The disagreements over the bill
There are oppositions who claim this will affect the sick and people with pre-existing health issues to a great extent.
A Moderate Republican Senator expressed his disagreements with this move as it may destabilize the health insurance market further and increase the premium rates for the poor and the sick. So, clearly the lawmakers are divided and the disagreements still continue over the healthcare provisions.
A new survey showed that the number of Americans without a health insurance is on the surge and have grown by approximately two million in the current year.
The Congressional Budgetary Office (CBO) reported the new bill would serve 22 million Americans in next ten years. The bill also demands insurers to provide essential health benefits on emergency services, pre and post-partum health and mental health conditions.
One of the senior lawmakers indicated the possibility to have a vote next week that would need a minimum of fifty Republican Senators to take a united stand in order to pass the bill. However, eight Republican senators had already opposed the bill, so the future of the proposed healthcare bill is still in the dark.
