American senators are working through the weekend for the first time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to end the standoff appeared to recede as Republican senators proposed a plan toxic to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Impact of Government Shutdown
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest shutdown of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went unpaid, carriers were forced to ground planes and SNAP benefits have been delayed for forty-two million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's session got under way, Republican senators welcomed a suggestion made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted by HSA-style accounts.
"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the ineffective Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump wrote.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is similar to a alternative 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 online platforms, and stood next to a large print of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.
"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Opposition Reaction
Democratic lawmakers shared concerned reactions to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "It's the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another lawmaker reacted to the criticism of insurance companies by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the large insurance companies are overcharging Americans. Seriously? Then I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Ongoing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an developing plan from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in return for a future vote on the Obamacare payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among moderates, said that Democrats "need another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator continued in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the payments before discussing the future of the subsidies.
"Inaction is derelict because citizens will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get more ill," the senator said in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress fails to act."
Partisan Situation
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that consumers would still need to buy coverage from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the backing of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several analysts indicated that the core of such a proposal would eliminate the ACA's mandate that carriers cover patients with existing health issues.
After his golf outing, Trump returned to his private club and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to repeal and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that was unsuccessful to garner enough support in 2017.
