American senators are working through the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but expectations for a bipartisan agreement on how to end the impasse appeared to diminish as GOP senators floated a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, 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 federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to cancel flights and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Golf Course
As Saturday's meeting got started, GOP senators welcomed a suggestion made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted by health savings accounts.
"I am recommending 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 wrote.
GOP Support
Several Republican senators praised the proposal, which is similar to a replacement for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, and displayed 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 response to Trump's proposal. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to carriers and instead give it straight to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Opposition Response
Opposition senators expressed concerned reactions to Trump's plan.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the censure of carriers by writing: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? Then I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an willingness to an developing plan from a small group of moderate Democrats to end the shutdown in exchange for a future vote on the ACA subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator continued in arguing that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the subsidies before discussing the future of the subsidies.
"Inaction is irresponsible because people 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 fails to act."
Partisan Dynamics
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy coverage from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the backing of several Democrats to reopen the government, and the concept of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a single Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the essence of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover patients with existing health issues.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and doubled down on his demand that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to repeal and replace Obamacare with a version of the proposal that failed to secure enough support in 2017.
