American lawmakers are working through the weekend for the first time since the federal closure began more than a month ago, but hopes for a bipartisan agreement on how to end the impasse appeared to diminish as GOP senators floated a proposal unacceptable to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Impact of Federal Closure
The impact on US citizens from the longest closure of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been delayed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's meeting got under way, GOP senators welcomed a suggestion made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for government payments to be replaced by health savings accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking 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 posted.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the proposal, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, and stood next to a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.
"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop public funds from going to insurance companies and instead give it straight to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic senators expressed alarmed responses to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "This is the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another senator responded to the criticism of carriers by posting: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are overcharging Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Talks
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an emerging proposal from a small group of moderate Democrats to terminate the shutdown in return for a future vote on the Obamacare subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and continue the subsidies for a year.
Another leading Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should agree to a 12-month continuation of the payments before discussing the future of the subsidies.
"Inaction is irresponsible because citizens 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 fails to act."
Partisan Situation
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that consumers would still need to buy plans from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the support of several Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of eliminating and substituting Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.
Some observers indicated that the core of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump returned to his private club and reiterated on his demand that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a version of the plan that failed to garner enough backing in 2017.
