🔗 Share this article

US lawmakers are working through the weekend for the first time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but expectations for a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as Republican senators floated a plan toxic to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.

Deepening Consequences of Government Shutdown

The impact on US citizens from the longest shutdown of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, airlines were compelled to ground planes and SNAP benefits have been delayed for forty-two million Americans.

President's Proposal from Florida Resort

As weekend meeting got under way, Republican senators welcomed a proposal made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for government payments to be substituted by health savings accounts.

"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking 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 wrote.

GOP Endorsement

Several Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare put forward in 2017.

"We will replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the patient," one senator said.

Another senator praised Trump's suggestion on social media, and displayed a large print of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.

"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's proposal. "We need to stop public funds from going to carriers and instead give it straight to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."

Democratic Reaction

Democratic senators expressed alarmed reactions to Trump's plan.

"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."

Another lawmaker reacted to the criticism of insurance companies 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 willingness to an developing proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to terminate the closure in return for a later vote on the ACA payments.

One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans turned down an offer to reopen the government and extend the payments for a year.

Another senior Democratic lawmaker continued in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the subsidies.

"Doing nothing is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."

Partisan Dynamics

None of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that consumers would still need to buy coverage from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the backing of several Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.

Several observers suggested that the essence of such a proposal would remove the ACA's mandate that carriers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.

After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a version of the proposal that failed to garner enough backing in 2017.