American senators are meeting during the weekend for the first time since the government shutdown began more than a month ago, but expectations 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, known as Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Government Shutdown
The effect on US citizens from the lengthiest closure of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went without pay, carriers were forced to cancel flights and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been delayed for 42 million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's meeting got started, GOP senators embraced a proposal made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for government payments to be replaced by health savings accounts.
"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the 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 posted.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, 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 said.
Another senator commended Trump's proposal 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 posted in response to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop taxpayer money from going to carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Reaction
Opposition lawmakers shared concerned responses to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another cynical attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the censure of carriers by posting: "Well, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without finding a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an developing plan from a handful of moderate Democrats to end the shutdown in return for a future vote on the Obamacare payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans rejected an offer to reopen the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic senator continued in arguing that Republicans should agree to a 12-month continuation of the payments before negotiating the future of the subsidies.
"Inaction is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get sicker," the senator said in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress fails to act."
Political Dynamics
None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that consumers would still need to buy plans from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the support of eight Democrats to reopen the government, and the concept of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the essence of such a proposal would remove the ACA's mandate that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his resort visit, Trump returned to his residence and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to garner enough backing in 2017.
