Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the newest version of a Senate GOP health care plan and boldly stated: “We will be voting next week.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, endorsed the plan after it adopted a variation of his amendment.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell released his new but still-reeling health care bill Thursday, bidding for conservative support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies and reaching for moderates with added billions to combat opioid abuse and help states rein in consumers’ skyrocketing insurance costs.
However, allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans threatens to alienate moderates and perhaps other conservatives. And the measure retains cuts in Medicaid — the health insurance plan for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients — that moderate Republican senators have fought.