US senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began more than a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as Republican senators floated a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown
The impact on US citizens from the longest shutdown of the US government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been delayed for 42 million Americans.
Trump's Proposal from Golf Course
As Saturday's meeting got started, Republican senators embraced a proposal made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for government payments to be substituted by HSA-style accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to profit-driven Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump posted.
GOP Endorsement
Several Republican senators welcomed the proposal, which is comparable with a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator commended Trump's proposal on online platforms, and stood next to 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 wrote in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop taxpayer money from going to carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic lawmakers expressed alarmed reactions to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is another cynical attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another lawmaker responded to the censure of insurance companies by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? Then I welcome your support for Medicare for All."
Ongoing Talks
The Senate adjourned without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an developing plan from a handful of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in exchange for a later vote on the ACA payments.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the talks among moderates, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans turned down an offer to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic lawmaker persisted in maintaining that Republicans should agree to a one-year extension of the subsidies before discussing the future of the tax credits.
"Doing nothing is irresponsible because citizens will go into debt, people will become uninsured, people will get sicker," the senator said in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Dynamics
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that patients would still need to buy plans from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the backing of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the essence of such a proposal would eliminate the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his private club and doubled down on his demand that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to garner enough support in 2017.
