US lawmakers are working through the weekend for the first time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but hopes for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the impasse appeared to recede as GOP senators proposed a proposal toxic to Democrats: eliminating the ACA, called Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Federal Closure
The impact on US citizens from the lengthiest closure of the federal government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went unpaid, carriers were compelled to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been postponed for forty-two million Americans.
Trump's Proposal from Florida Resort
As weekend meeting got under way, Republican senators embraced a proposal made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be replaced by health savings accounts.
"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the 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
Multiple Republican senators praised the plan, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this failing program with something that is truly better for the patient," one senator said.
Another senator praised 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 am drafting the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it straight to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Opposition Response
Opposition senators shared concerned responses to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by voters and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the censure of carriers by posting: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? Then I applaud your support for Medicare for All."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an emerging plan from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in exchange for a future vote on the Obamacare payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans rejected an offer to reopen the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should agree to a 12-month continuation of the subsidies before discussing the future of the subsidies.
"Doing nothing is derelict because people will go into debt, people will become uninsured, people will get more ill," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress fails to act."
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 insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the support of several Democrats to reopen the government, and the concept of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several analysts indicated that the core of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his private club and reiterated on his demand that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to secure enough backing in 2017.
