It's Official: Health Care Bill Dies in Senate

July 18, 2017

Americans woke up Tuesday morning to the news many had expected: A Senate vote to repeal and replace Obamacare would not happen. At least not anytime soon.

The final dagger came Monday night when two more Republican senators — Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas — released statements declaring that they would not vote in favor of the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Needing 50 of the 52 GOP votes to pass a Senate vote, the bill was already hanging on by a thread after Republican senators Rand Paul (KY) and Susan Collins (ME) remained steadfast in their opposition. A third “no” vote would be the nail in the coffin.

That nail came as Lee and Moran simultaneously came out against the bill, sharing the party’s heat for being the third and decisive holdouts. Lee said in his statement that, “In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations.”

Health care costs was echoed in Moran’s statement, which said the proposed bill “fails to repeal the Affordable Care Act or address healthcare’s rising costs.”

Still Hope for Repeal?

While hope for immediate health care reform appears lost, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell emphasized that he would still push for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act with a two-year delay in order to buy more time to draft a brand new replacement bill.

“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said in a statement of his own. He hopes to vote on a repeal of Obamacare — with no replacement — “in the coming days.”

Following the news break, President Trump took to Twitter to lend support to that plan, saying, “Republicans should just REPEAL failing Obamacare now and work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate.”

What this means for U.S. health care, only time will tell. 

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Christian Worstell is a health care and policy writer for MedicareSupplement.com. He has written hundreds of articles helping people better understand their Medicare coverage options.