Republican senators say the massive spending cuts to Medicaid in the megabill GOP leaders hope to pass to enact President Trump’s agenda are still a major concern, raising questions about whether the bill has the votes to advance on the Senate floor this week.
Senators, who have warned for weeks that the Medicaid spending cuts passed by the House last month will have a devastating impact on rural hospitals and reduce health care coverage in their states, say they have yet to see a plan from their leadership that they could support.
“I still have concerns about a few provisions in the bill. I’m not satisfied yet,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who cited Medicaid as his biggest problem with the legislation.
“Broadly, Medicaid, related to the well-being of hospitals in Kansas and rural America,” he said.
Moran said he is “still making a case” to GOP leadership that those provisions need to be reworked.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters while heading to a vote Monday afternoon that her concerns about Medicaid spending cuts remain unresolved.
Last week, she floated a proposal to establish a health care provider relief fund to help rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers that would be affected by funding cuts. But as of 5:30 p.m. Monday, she did not know where her relief proposal stood.
“I’m not sure where it stands right now,” she said of the Medicaid-related provisions in the bill. “I’m still opposed to the changes in the provider tax provisions.
“I still believe that we need [a] $100 billion provider-relief fund to assist our distressed rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers,” she said.
Collins said she would learn more at a 6 p.m. briefing of the Senate GOP conference about the latest changes to the legislation.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday afternoon that the Medicaid language needs “work” and it would probably take until the end of the week to solve the various problems.
“We got some work to do on Medicaid,” he said.
“I think it could get done over the course of a few days but probably not by Thursday,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to bring the bill to the floor by Thursday or Friday this week.
He needs a simple-majority vote to proceed to the legislation before holding a long series of amendment votes known as a vote-a-rama.
Thune said the bill remains “on schedule,” but he acknowledged it’s being slowed by Democratic challenges being argued before the Senate parliamentarian.
Asked if he has the votes to pass the bill, Thune replied: “Let’s hope so.”
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