WEBVTT - Litvan and Dennis on Senate's Plans for Repeal Bill (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Law. President Trump and House Republicans

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<v Speaker 1>held a celebratory press conference yesterday after the House passed

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<v Speaker 1>a sweeping health insurance bill, but the road to ultimate

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<v Speaker 1>passage of a Republican health insurance law maybe a long one.

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<v Speaker 1>Some Senate Republicans have concerns about various provisions of the

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<v Speaker 1>House bills, such as its changes to Medicaid, and almost immediately,

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<v Speaker 1>Senate Republicans said that rather than take up the House bill,

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<v Speaker 1>the Senate would write its own health care bill. Here

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<v Speaker 1>with us to talk about what's likely to happen as

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<v Speaker 1>they Senate considers health insurance are Laura Littvan and Stephen

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<v Speaker 1>Dennis Bloomberg News congressional reporters. Laura, what are senators saying

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<v Speaker 1>about what happens next? They're saying they're going to take

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<v Speaker 1>their time and they want to really closely examine the

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<v Speaker 1>provisions of the House bill, and that they want to

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<v Speaker 1>go their own road. They want to carefully consider some

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<v Speaker 1>of the objections that members have. They are divided within

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<v Speaker 1>their party. You have moderates who are concerned about the

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<v Speaker 1>effective of people on people of pre existing who have

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<v Speaker 1>pre existing conditions. Uh, Some members are concerned about eight

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<v Speaker 1>hundred billion in Medicaid cuts over ten years UM. Others

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<v Speaker 1>are concerned about the size of tax cuts. Those are

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<v Speaker 1>on the moderate wing and on the conservative wing you

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<v Speaker 1>have some like Grand Paul who would really like to

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<v Speaker 1>simply repeal Obamacare. So there's a big divide. And or

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<v Speaker 1>In Hatch has said that he wants to craft a

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<v Speaker 1>measure that can get fifty one votes. He really only

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<v Speaker 1>needs fifty votes. So Stephen, is it possible, as you

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<v Speaker 1>look at the Senate to get fifty votes? Yeah, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>ultimately they can lose to Senate Republicans. They're not gonna

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<v Speaker 1>get any Democrats for this. As long as those tax

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<v Speaker 1>cuts in there, it's going to be radioactive for Democrats.

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<v Speaker 1>And as long as there's a bill that's gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>millions of people lose health insurance. And you know the

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<v Speaker 1>House bill, Uh, we don't have the final CBO score yet,

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<v Speaker 1>but the original version said it would result in twenty

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<v Speaker 1>four million people fewer people having health insurance in ten years.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a tough pill to swallow for a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these moderates, And if you look at the individual impact

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<v Speaker 1>in each state, that's something that's going to really gonna

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<v Speaker 1>come into play if you look at like Alaska. Lisa Murkowski,

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<v Speaker 1>who told me yesterday in an interview that she wants

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<v Speaker 1>to start with a clean slate. That House bill has

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<v Speaker 1>big problems for Alaska because it's a high cost state. Currently,

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<v Speaker 1>people on the insurance markets who get subsidies have huge

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<v Speaker 1>subsidies because the costs are so high. Well, those huge

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<v Speaker 1>subsidies get turned into a two thousand dollar to four

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollar flat tax credit under the House bill, and

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<v Speaker 1>so suddenly people could see a forty dollar jump in premiums.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not cool for Lisa Murkowski. She's not gonna vote

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<v Speaker 1>for that. They're gonna need to have to change the

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<v Speaker 1>bill to have more help, especially for seniors who could

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<v Speaker 1>get really skyrocketing premiums. If you're ages fifty to sixty

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<v Speaker 1>four and you make about twenty five dollars a year,

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<v Speaker 1>CBO said, the House bill could see s seven d

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<v Speaker 1>increase in your premiums. That's not affordable. That's one of

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<v Speaker 1>the features of the House bill though, because if you

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<v Speaker 1>want to get premiums down for everybody else, you have

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<v Speaker 1>to charge older people more, or you have to charge

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<v Speaker 1>people with pre existing conditions more or you need to

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<v Speaker 1>get rid of some of the benefits in the Affordable

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<v Speaker 1>Care Act, things like maternity coverage, prescription drug coverage, and

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<v Speaker 1>the like, and that all that stuff is gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>very emotional, very tough to get people on board. There's

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<v Speaker 1>a working group with thirteen men on it right now,

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<v Speaker 1>Senate Republican men who have been meeting uh the last

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<v Speaker 1>several weeks to try and come up with their own bill.

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<v Speaker 1>But the real moderates um that they need to get

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<v Speaker 1>on board, which includes Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. He's a

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<v Speaker 1>doctor who served in a charity hospital for a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of decades, Susan Collins of Maine, and Murkowski. Without those

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<v Speaker 1>three moderates, you cannot pass a bill in the Senate.

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<v Speaker 1>So ultimate they're gonna have to make at least a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of those moderates happy to get to that ultimate

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<v Speaker 1>fifty votes plus Mike Pennce casting the tie breaking vote,

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<v Speaker 1>and that might take many, many weeks. The original plan

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of months ago, when they wanted to have

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<v Speaker 1>this Lightning Strike bill passed within weeks of Donald Trump

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<v Speaker 1>taking office. The original plan was the Senate would pass

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<v Speaker 1>the bill the week after the House that's not no

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<v Speaker 1>longer operative, and part of it is a rebranding exercise.

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<v Speaker 1>I think the House bill has become so toxic politically.

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<v Speaker 1>It's it's poll numbers are terrible, and the Senate thinks, okay, well,

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<v Speaker 1>even if we're gonna keep a lot of the same

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<v Speaker 1>elements we wanted to call it the Senate Bill, it'll

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<v Speaker 1>it'll pull better that way than than have a House

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<v Speaker 1>bill that's been so tainted by that CBO score and

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<v Speaker 1>by month after month of very difficult coverage and a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of messy and loud town halls. And so I

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<v Speaker 1>do think that the sentence is probably gonna take a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit more time. But they don't have that much

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<v Speaker 1>time because a lot of the insurance companies are trying

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<v Speaker 1>to put together their plans for next year, and in

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<v Speaker 1>May and June is when they make those decisions on

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<v Speaker 1>what the rates are going to be, whether or not

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<v Speaker 1>they're going to be in a state or not. And

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<v Speaker 1>Lamar Alexandrew's the Health chairman, has Uh is facing the

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<v Speaker 1>very real prospect that there will be no plans at

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<v Speaker 1>all in his state. So he has a sense of

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<v Speaker 1>urgency to get something done in the next few weeks.

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<v Speaker 1>But like I said, it's not gonna be easy. Laura,

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<v Speaker 1>we have about forty five seconds here. But is the

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<v Speaker 1>you know, they they're basing their what they're gonna do

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<v Speaker 1>on the idea that they don't need the Democrats. They

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<v Speaker 1>can't be feel abustard. Is there anything in the law

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to prevent them from doing this? Through what's

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<v Speaker 1>called the reconciliation process, they could be prevented from moving

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<v Speaker 1>some very important aspects of it through, and that includes

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<v Speaker 1>the changes that were made in the House to try

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<v Speaker 1>to get it through to get more palatable to conservatives

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<v Speaker 1>that would let states opt out of the pre existing

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<v Speaker 1>condition aspects of the Affordable Care Act and possibly impose

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<v Speaker 1>high allow people who have pre existing conditions to see

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<v Speaker 1>higher premiums if the state offers a high risk pool.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a very important part of getting it back through

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<v Speaker 1>the House potentially, and that may not be able to

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<v Speaker 1>go through the Senate with just fifty one votes. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>our thanks to Bloomberg News reporters Laura Lidvan and Stephen

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<v Speaker 1>Dennis for being with us today to talk about what's

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<v Speaker 1>going to happen in the Senate on health insurance after

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<v Speaker 1>the House has passed its bill. Yesterday, coming up on

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Law, President Trump signed a religious freedom executive Order,

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<v Speaker 1>but a lot of people are saying that it doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>really accomplish very much. We'll be talking about that, and

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<v Speaker 1>also the Eagles are suing the Hotel California. That's coming

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<v Speaker 1>up on Bloomberg Law on Bloomberg Radio. This is Bloomberg