Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, voiced his concern with the Republican healthcare plan released Monday, The Hill reports.
"I do have some concerns and I'm not comfortable with it," Lee said of the long-awaited replacement plan.
"This is not the Obamacare repeal bill we've been waiting for. It is a missed opportunity and a step in the wrong direction," Lee said in a statement, according to CNN. "We promised the American people we would drain the swamp and end business as usual in Washington. This bill does not do that."
The senator plans to release more detailed objections later.
Lee and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are posed to speak at a press conference Tuesday with members of the House Freedom Caucus, who have expressed concern about the inclusion of refundable tax credits in the plan to replace Obamacare.
"We don't know how many people would use this new tax credit, we don't know how much it will cost, and we don't know if this bill will make health care more affordable for Americans," Lee said.
"This is Obamacare by a different form," former Freedom Caucus chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Politico Monday. "They're still keeping the taxes in place and Medicaid expansion, and they're starting a new entitlement."
Freedom Caucus member Dave Brat, R-Va., told Politico that he wouldn't vote for the bill in its current form because it "maintains many of the federal features including a new entitlement program as well as most of the insurance regulations.
"Now [they] are saying we're going to do repeal and replace but the bill does nothing of the sort," he added. "[House Speaker] Paul Ryan has always said the entire rationale for this bill is to bend the cost curve down, and so far I have seen no evidence that this bill will bring the cost curve down."
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