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Tags: susan collins | healthcare | dire consequences | changes | safety net

Sen. Collins on Healthcare: Don't Know if It Will Pass

Sen. Collins on Healthcare: Don't Know if It Will Pass
Sen. Susan Collins (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By    |   Sunday, 16 July 2017 11:23 AM EDT

Senate GOP healthcare bill holdout Susan Collins said Sunday she doubts the measure will pass the upper chamber despite a provision meant to bolster the needed support of 50 senators.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," the Republican Senator from Maine, who has said she won't vote for the GOP bill, said there are eight to 10 Republican senators who have "serious" concerns.

"And so, at the end of the day, I don’t know whether it will pass," she said.

"I do know this: We should not be making fundamental changes in a vital safety net program that's been on the books for 50 years … without evaluating what the consequences will be," she added.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates these changes would result in cuts of $772 billion in federal spending on Medicaid, and would shed 15 million people from the program.

"You can't take more than $700 billion out of the Medicaid program and not think that it's going to have some kind of effect," she said.

She also said Cruz's amendment is not the way to go; the provision allows insurance carriers to sell plans that don't adhere to Obamacare as long as they seek one plan that does.

"Senator Cruz’s approach is not the answer," she said. "There is a way to deal with this and that is by creating a reinsurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions."

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Politics
Senate GOP healthcare bill holdout Susan Collins said Sunday she doubts the measure will pass the upper chamber despite a provision meant to bolster the needed support of 50 senators.In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," the Republican Senator from Maine, who has...
susan collins, healthcare, dire consequences, changes, safety net
235
2017-23-16
Sunday, 16 July 2017 11:23 AM
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