American senators are meeting during the weekend for the first time since the government shutdown began more than a month ago, but hopes for a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve the standoff appeared to diminish as Republican senators floated a plan toxic to Democrats: scrapping the ACA, called Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Government Shutdown
The impact on US citizens from the longest closure of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went without pay, airlines were forced to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
President's Proposal from Florida Resort
As Saturday's meeting got under way, Republican senators embraced a suggestion 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.
"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 wrote.
GOP Endorsement
Multiple Republican senators praised the proposal, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator commended Trump's suggestion on social media, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.
"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator wrote in response to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop public funds from going to carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic lawmakers expressed concerned reactions 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 unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by voters and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the criticism of carriers by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? Then I welcome your support for universal healthcare."
Ongoing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an developing proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to terminate the shutdown in exchange for a future vote on the ACA payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic lawmaker persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the payments before discussing the long-term of the tax credits.
"Inaction is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator said in a floor speech. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Political Situation
None of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that consumers 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 improbable to earn a single Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the core of such a plan would eliminate the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover patients with existing health issues.
After his resort visit, Trump went back to his private club and reiterated on his demand that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to secure enough backing in 2017.
