Senate GOP's New Health Care Bill Lets Insurers Sell Watered-Down Coverage

WASHINGTON, DC — Senate Republicans released a new version of their health care reform bill Thursday, which significantly alters the original version. Most notably, it includes a controversial amendment championed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz that would allow insurers to sell watered-down coverage that doesn't include Obamacare's essential health benefits. It also preserves the dramatic cuts to Medicaid, the program that offers coverage for low-income Americans, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

The Congressional Budget Office will release a score of the bill next week. At this point, it's not clear if the bill has enough Republican support to pass. Reports suggest that the CBO will include a score of the bill with and without Cruz's amendment, though the Texas senator has said he will not vote for legislation that does not include something like his proposed change.

Republicans need 50 of the 52 GOP senators to support the bill if it has any hope of becoming law. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine have already expressed serious opposition to the senate leadership's plan for overhauling health care; if their opposition holds, Republicans cannot afford to lose any other votes.

"Still deep cuts to Medicaid in Senate bill," Collins tweeted, adding that she would not vote to allow the bill to go to the Senate floor. "Ready to work w/ GOP & Dem colleagues to fix flaws in ACA."

Watch: Revised GOP Senate Health Plan Unveiled

Cruz's argument for allowing insurers to sell plans that cover fewer medical costs is that it will provide consumers more choice and reduced premiums. But the addition of the Cruz amendment worries many health care analysts on both sides of the aisle. The problem, they say, is that the provision would essentially create two health insurance markets: one for healthy people who don't want to pay for extensive coverage and another for sicker people who need robust coverage.

If this is the result, premiums would soar for people who are sick. Many people with serious preexisting conditions may be unable to afford this coverage. Meanwhile, healthy people who buy the skimpier plans may eventually end up sick or in need of care and realize their insurance plan does not provide for their medical needs.

Just like the original version of the bill, the new legislation would also eliminate a ban on "life-time limits," which place monetary caps on the amount of spending an insurance plan will pay out. Before Obamacare, which banned such limits, patients would sometimes hit these limits without realizing it, leaving them on the financial hook for any other care they would require.

The new version has many provisions that may help get moderate Republicans like Collins and Heller back on board. These include:

• $70 billion in funding for states to provide additional aid for out-of-pocket costs
• A provision allowing individuals to use health savings accounts to pay their insurance premiums
• $45 billion to fight the opioid epidemic

In the new version, the legislation includes far fewer tax cuts than the GOP leadership initially proposed. While the first draft gave high earners large benefits by slashing taxes on investment income and a payroll tax on the wealthy, this version leaves those taxes in place. It also leaves in place a tax on the earnings of health insurance executives.

This story is being updated. Refresh for more details.

Read the new Senate health care bill>>

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