American senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but hopes for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators proposed a proposal unacceptable to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Federal Closure
The effect on Americans from the longest shutdown of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, carriers were compelled to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's meeting got started, GOP senators welcomed a suggestion made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be replaced by HSA-style accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the ineffective Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump posted.
Republican Support
Several Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator said.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.
"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to carriers and instead give it straight to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic lawmakers expressed alarmed responses to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by voters and Congress."
Another lawmaker responded to the criticism of carriers by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate adjourned without reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an emerging proposal from a handful of moderate Democrats to terminate the closure in return for a future vote on the ACA subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans rejected an proposal to restart the government and continue the subsidies for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator continued in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the payments before discussing the long-term of the subsidies.
"Doing nothing is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get more ill," the senator stated in a floor speech. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Situation
None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy plans from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the support of several Democrats to reopen the government, and the idea of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several analysts indicated that the core of such a plan would eliminate the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his resort visit, Trump returned to his private club and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a version of the plan that was unsuccessful to garner enough support in 2017.
