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The Senate will defer consideration of the GOP healthcare plan that would partially repeal and replace Obamacare until Sen. John McCain returns to work following a procedure to remove a blood clot from above his left eye, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement late Saturday. After wishing him a "speedy recovery," McConnell, R-Ky., added: "While John is recovering, the Senate will continue our work on legislative items and nominations, and will defer consideration of the Better Care Act." About two hours earlier McCain's office revealed that he would be spending a week in his home state of...

U.S. Senator John McCain will remain in Arizona next week to recuperate from a medical procedure that removed a 2-inch (5-cm) blood clot above his left eye, his office announced in a statement on Saturday. It was unclear how McCain's absence might affect a crucial Senate vote on legislation to dismantle and replace Obamacare, with Republicans so divided that the absence of a single "yes" vote could doom the healthcare bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and the GOP leadership are scrambling this week to corral 50 out of 52 Republican votes for an historically unpopular health-care bill. Why did so many House Republicans already vote for a bill that large majorities in every state detest? And why are their Senate colleagues considering walking the same plank, given the electoral risk? In our book, “Representing Red and Blue: How the Culture Wars Change the Way Citizens Speak and Politicians Listen,” we find that thumbing one’s nose at public opinion might spell trouble for elected Democrats. But Republicans typically have much...

The new bill includes major changes to the original. One of the most significant was the inclusion of an amendment by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, which would allow insurers offering Obamacare plans to also offer cheaper, bare-bones policies. The amendment was included in an effort to earn more conservative support, but could also drive away some moderates who fear the amendment could drive up premiums for those with pre-existing conditions.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will support the new version of the GOP ObamaCare replacement bill, a major boost for the measure's chances of passage in the upper chamber. "If this is the bill, I will support this bill," Cruz told reporters Thursday after a meeting of GOP senators. "Now, if it’s amended and we lose the protections that lower premiums my view could well change." An amendment from Cruz to allow insurers to offer plans that do not meet ObamaCare requirements was included in the new bill in a key move to win his support.

<p>Senate Republican leaders dropped provisions that would repeal two taxes on high earners in a revised draft of their health-care bill sent to the Congressional Budget Office, according to GOP senators.</p> <p>Republican leaders are now planning to retain Obamacare’s 3.8 percent tax on net investment income for people who earn more than $200,000 and couples with incomes over $250,000, as well as a 0.9 percent Medicare surtax on the same incomes.</p>

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey likened the Senate's passage Thursday of landmark health care reform legislation to the first chapter of a book. The next, much shorter chapter will be completed possibly as early as January, after Senate and House conferees work out the differences between each chamber's version of the bill and the final legislation is signed into law by President Barack Obama. But the succeeding chapters of health care reform, much like the history of the Social Security and Medicare programs, could take years, even decades to write, Mr. Casey said. "Some of the things we thought would work...

Multi-tasking is a great quality, but money can't multi-task--- you can't spend the same dollar bill in two different places. The Senate version of the Obamacare tries to do just that. According to the Senate's guidelines given to the CBO to score the latest Harry Reid version of Health Care, the $500 Billion in medicare savings is being used to extend the life of Medicare AND to help pay for the new Healthcare programs in the bill. Yesterday Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) asked the director of the CBO a simple question what is really happening to the $500 Billion in...

Forget the public option. Even without it, the health care bill presented in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) would make some middle-class American families pay what amounts to a $15,200 annual federally-mandated insurance fee, according to facts revealed in analyses published by the Congressional Budget Office. The fee would result from the facts that the bill requires individuals—but not employers—to purchase health insurance plans and that families that earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be given government subsidies to purchase insurance in government-regulated insurance exchanges while families earning more than 400 percent...

With great fanfare, tonight Senate Democrats announced they have reached a "broad agreement" on the health reform bill. According to reports, it includes a new national health-care plan with private insurers, and a chance for older Americans to “buy in” to Medicare. The most significant part of the reports is the public option is Dead. But then there are the other reports that say the public option is not dead.The Senators are not releasing the details of the deal, until they get back the "scoring" report from the Congressional Budget Office,

Yesterday Harry Reid Proudly announced CBO had scored the Senate’s bill and that claimed that the bill would save $109 Billion during the first ten years years of the plan's Today the CBO released a letter showing that Reid's information is wrong. The Majority leader "forgot to include the "doctor’s fix“, in his scoring. Once that is done the effect of the Senate Bill is to INCREASE the the deficit by $89 billion in the first 10 years.