WASHINGTON — For Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, writing a Republican-only health care bill that can pass the Senate boils down to this question: How do you solve a problem like Dean, Lisa, Patrick, Ted, Rand and Susan?
Those are some GOP senators whose clashing demands McConnell, R-Ky., must resolve. Facing solid Democratic opposition to demolishing former President Barack Obama’s 2010 overhaul, Republicans will lose if just three of their 52 senators defect.
In a report that complicated McConnell’s task, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office delivered a damaging critique last week of the GOP-written bill the House approved May 4. It concluded the measure would create 23 million additional uninsured Americans by 2026; lower premiums for younger and healthy people by letting them buy sparser coverage; and confront unhealthy, poorer and older consumers with exorbitant out-of-pocket costs.
As GOP senators try privately crafting a bill, here are some problems facing McConnell:
23 MILLION
Booting that many people off health care coverage is a nonstarter for many Republican senators. It’s a campaign attack ad that writes itself.
Republicans defend just nine of the 34 seats on next year’s Senate election map. Of them, just two seem competitive – Dean Heller of Nevada and Arizona’s Jeff Flake.
