(Three lobbyists told Vox that this was the path forward being charted by Senate leadership. One lobbyist said the bill could be narrowed to the “lowest common denominator product.”) – Updated by
“Skinny repeal” is the latest ploy from GOP leaders.
Source
s suggest that Senate Republicans are weighing a last-ditch idea to pass some kind of health care bill in the coming days: a narrowly focused Obamacare repeal bill. A “skinny repeal” measure could eliminate the law’s hated individual mandate to buy insurance, perhaps some of its taxes on the health care industry, and little else.
That policy could prove extremely disruptive to the individual insurance markets, where people buy coverage if they don’t get it through their employers or the government, if it became law. Health insurance works as a business only if as many healthy people buy insurance as possible to offset the costs of paying for sick people’s health care. Getting rid of the Obamacare requirement that people buy health insurance or face a penalty could lead healthy people to avoid insurance altogether.
Politically, “skinny repeal” could be the end game, according to three health care lobbyists. It’s a plan with great peril — putting the individual insurance market at risk of spinning into a death spiral if Senate and House lawmakers can’t reach an agreement on a final piece of legislation.
As deep divisions persist within the Senate Republican conference, it may be the GOP’s last remaining chance to keep even a small chunk of its health care promises alive.
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