Republicans push to repeal Obamacare with no replacement after embarrassing Trumpcare collapse

The Senate Majority leader is expected to still struggle to get Republican support

Activists march around the US Capitol to protest the Senate GOP health care bill (Getty Images)

Donald Trump and the Senate’s Republican leader are pushing for a vote on a bill that would scrap Obamacare without an immediate replacement, after efforts to repeal and replace the healthcare law at the same time collapsed.

Two more Republicans – Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah – on Monday announced they would oppose the Senate measure meant to overturn the Affordable Care Care, killing – at least for now – an attempt to dismantle a pillar of former President Barack Obama’s legacy. Two other Republicans – conservative Rand Paul of Kentucky and moderate Susan Collins of Maine – had already said they would vote against beginning debate on the legislation.

After it became clear that he did not have the votes to pass his healthcare bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate would soon vote to take up a measure to repeal Obamacare, with it taking effect later.

The House of Representatives had passed the Obamacare replacement in 2015, but it was vetoed by then-President Obama.

A straight Obamacare repeal could lead to 32 million people losing their health insurance, according to an analysis of the Republicans’ 2015 repeal legislation by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The CBO predicted that the previous Senate healthcare bill, released last month, would increase the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026.

Mr Moran’s and Mr Lee’s defections surprised many on Capitol Hill and Mr Trump, who was having dinner with Republican senators in a healthcare strategy session. The President reportedly told the Republicans that the party would look like “dopes” if they couldn’t pass a healthcare bill after passing a repeal bill in 2015.

“Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!” the President tweeted on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, he tweeted: “Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard,” but said, “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans.”

He added, “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!”

Mr McConnell is still expected to face hurdles in his mission to get the Senate to take up the Obamacare repeal bill. He needs 50 ‘yea’ votes and has already indicated that he does not intend to reach out to Democrats, despite calls by other Republicans for bipartisanship.

“One of the major problems with Obamacare was that it was written on a strict party-line basis and driven through Congress without a single Republican vote,” said Arizona senator John McCain. “As this law continues to crumble in Arizona and states across the country, we must not repeat the original mistakes that led to Obamacare’s failure.”

He added, “The Congress must now return to regular order, hold hearings, receive input from members of both parties, and heed the recommendations of our nation's governors so that we can produce a bill that finally provides Americans with access to quality and affordable health care.”

The Senate’s Republican leadership had been hoping to hold a vote on the healthcare bill this week. However, Mr McConnell was forced to abandon this plan after it was announced that Mr McCain had surgery last week to remove a blood clot above his left eye.

Mr McCain’s office has said the Republican and Vietnam War veteran is recovering in Arizona this week – but his condition may be more serious than first thought – which would further delay his return to Washington to vote on a healthcare measure.

On the Senate floor on Tuesday, Mr McConnell said he regretted that the Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare were not successful, but added, “That doesn't mean we should give up.”

“We will now try a different way to bring the American people relief from Obamcare, I think we owe them that much,” Mr McConnell said. “The Senate will take up and vote on a repeal of Obamacare combined with a stable two-year transition period as we work toward patient-centered health care.”

About 20 million people gained health insurance coverage through Obamacare. Repealing the law has been a top priority for Mr Trump and Republicans in Congress, who say it has driven up premiums and forced consumers to buy insurance they do not want and cannot afford.

Mr McConnell said it was “regretful our Democratic colleagues did not want to engage with us seriously to deliver” relief to the American people.” But this doesn't have to be the end of this story,” Mr McConnell said.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer rebutted Mr McConnell's claims that Democrats were unwilling to work with Republicans on healthcare, saying that the Majority Leader early on in the process of healthcare reform told Democrats: “We don't need you, we don't want you."

“Respectfully, I take issue with the idea Democrats didn't want to engage on health care, the Majority Leader admitted he decided the matter for us when he locked Democrats out of process at the outset,” Mr Schumer said on the Senate floor.

“Now that their one-party effort largely failed, we hope they will change their tune,” he added, also asserting that passing a repeal without a replacement plan would be a “disaster” to America's healthcare system.