Urgent Care by Minda Wilson: Republicans quickly reject their own revised bill

Yesterday, Senators voted for debate, not passage. Once they agreed to debate the first thing the Republicans did was quickly reject their own revised bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, once their leading proposal for repealing and replacing Obamacare.

The Senate rejected the bill, 43 to 57, despite having added a provision from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) favored by conservatives and another from Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to court centrists worried about Medicaid cuts.

The Cruz provision allowed insurers to offer several plan types including cheaper plans that cover smaller ranges of benefits as long as that state offers one plan that has the broad coverage required by Obamacare.

The Portman provision, the Medicaid wraparound, provides $200 billion dollars of support to states whose Senators were concerned about cuts to their Medicaid programs. The incentive of $200 billion for their states was not enough. Of the 57 votes against, 9 were Republicans.