by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, July 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. lawmakers on Thursday continued the week's marathon session of voting to pass new healthcare legislation,but the outcome remains unknown.
Senate Republicans unveiled their "skinny bill" hours before they were expected to vote on the legislation.
Lawmakers attempted to pass the new, watered-down healthcare repeal bill as a replacement for Obamacare.
The eight-page draft presented by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls for a repeal of portions of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.
This came amid a hectic week for U.S. lawmakers, who have been scrambling to pass a bill before the August recess.
Healthcare has been a hot-button issue for several years, and the GOP has kept blasting the controversial Obamacare law.
Critics say Obamacare is unaffordable for many Americans, and punishes Americans with fines for not opting into this expensive plan and props up insurance companies with taxpayer dollars. Supporters say the plan has given millions of Americans access to health insurance who previously didn't have.
Some U.S. insurance companies are getting the jitters as they don't know what the outcome will be, even as they play a central role in the current system.
Indeed, Obamacare has been a boon to big insurance companies since the law mandates that all Americans purchase insurance or face a fine. With insurance premiums rising for many Americans due to Obamacare, insurance companies wonder whether the big money will continue to flow.
It's true that Obamacare has helped millions of Americans despite hurting the wallets of many others. Many lawmakers fear that a complete repeal of Obamacare could leave millions of voters without health insurance which could be disastrous for lawmakers at the polls in 2018.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that the only sure thing at this point is that healthcare will be a big issue in the 2018 midterm elections, adding that the situation remains "open-ended" and that it will "take time" to work through a number of issues.
West said that if the so-called "skinny" bill passes, it will set up a detailed set of negotiations with the House on the final bill.
The House has a much more widespread repeal than the Senate, and a conference committee would have to work out the differences. That means that the final bill could end up closer to the House than the Senate version, West said.
"Repealing the individual mandate would increase insurance premiums and take coverage away from millions of people. It would encourage young, healthy people to leave the system, which would drive up the costs for everyone else," West said.
If the bill is not passed by the legislature, Obamacare will remain the law of the land and the only risk is that the Trump administration may starve it of resources and makes it difficult to stay financially viable, West said.
