US lawmakers are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but hopes for a bipartisan agreement on how to end the standoff appeared to diminish as Republican senators floated a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Government Shutdown
The effect on US citizens from the lengthiest shutdown of the US government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, 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 weekend session got under way, 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 substituted by health savings accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to profit-driven Insurance Companies in order to save the ineffective Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump wrote.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator said.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on social media, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.
"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's proposal. "We need to stop public funds from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Opposition Response
Opposition senators expressed alarmed reactions to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by voters and Congress."
Another senator responded to the criticism of carriers by posting: "Oh, 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 Talks
The Senate went into recess without finding a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an developing plan from a handful of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in exchange for a future vote on the ACA subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the talks among moderates, said that Democrats "require another way ahead" after Republicans rejected an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the payments before negotiating the future of the tax credits.
"Inaction is derelict because citizens 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 does nothing."
Political Situation
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy plans from the same insurance companies, or that Republican legislators need the backing of several Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with savings accounts is improbable to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the core of such a plan would eliminate the ACA's mandate that carriers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that failed to garner enough backing in 2017.
