Already, Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson and Mike Lee say the newly released Senate health care plan is dead on arrival, unless they see some major changes.
Because it preserves more reasonable subsidies than the House bill and because its Medicaid drawdown happens in the distant 2020s - which is to say, perhaps never - it might not be an outright political catastrophe.
The 142-page Senate health care bill revealed Thursday was written in secret by 13 white men with little or no expertise on health care issues and no advice from doctors, hospitals or health economists, let alone from the public.
President Trump has urged lawmakers to pass the overhaul, which features billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, disabled and nursing home residents, and dramatic tax cuts for wealthy Americans.
Not only would the GOP legislation scale back coverage through the insurance markets and phase out the Medicaid expansion, it would also make fundamental changes to the broader Medicaid program. So the bill's attempted transition from Medicaid to private coverage would inevitably leave the people transitioning worse off, with deductibles that they couldn't pay even if their choice of doctors were technically better.
He pulled out the Senate Republican bill. "I'm announcing today that in this form, I will not support it".
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks on to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 22, 2017, following a meeting with Senate Republicans on a health reform bill. Republicans have called Obamacare - officially known as the Affordable Care Act - "unsustainable", citing skyrocketing premiums and the unstable health insurance marketplaces created by the law.
President Trump tweeted a video of his weekly address, which centered on healthcare legislation.
The bill's rolling back of Medicaid expansion was key point of contention for Heller and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
"It's not fulfilling the promise to be a more generous bill", said Elaine Couture, CEO of Providence Health Services. The bill would abolish the mandate that most Americans must have health insurance.
More than a million Illinoisans have coverage through the ACA, including 650,000 under Medicaid expansion.
Consumer advocates fear waivers that allow insurance companies to set which Essential Health Benefits they cover, if any, could be used as a pretense for denying expensive services for someone who has a pre-existing condition. If you are a 27-year-old person who makes $70,000 a year and has no illness, this is a good bill for you. Under both congressional measures, states would instead receive a per capita amount or block grant from the federal government. That would focus the aid more on people with lower incomes than the House legislation, which bases its subsidies on age.