The Senate is poised to vote Wednesday on a bill to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system, potentially reshaping the landscape of the country’s health care debate for decades to come.
The legislation would replace the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, with a new plan that would be substantially different from the ACA and would create a number of changes.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) announced Wednesday that he had secured support for the bill, according to multiple news outlets.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on the bill later this month.
The vote is expected to come in the next few weeks.
The bill is a departure from previous GOP proposals, which were largely designed to be more palatable to moderate Republicans and have been blocked by Democrats.
The new bill would include some of the same elements as the previous plan, including more protections for people with preexisting conditions, more funding for hospitals and nursing homes and expanded funding for Medicaid.
Cassidy’s bill would also include a Medicaid expansion and a new tax on the wealthy to help pay for the expansion.
The GOP’s healthcare bill has divided the party.
President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the legislation, which he has called “Obamacare Lite,” but has signaled support for it in the past.
Republican Sens.
Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Mike Lee (Utah) have also signaled support.
The Republican plan is expected not to include the $800 billion in new funding promised in the Senate healthcare bill and would be the first time in decades that the government would provide health insurance for millions of Americans at the same time that it would provide them coverage for less.
Democrats and civil rights groups are warning that the GOP plan will not adequately fund the expansion and that it will leave millions of people uninsured.
Democrats have repeatedly criticized the Senate bill for leaving out Medicaid expansion provisions, arguing that the Republican plan does not include the Medicaid expansion, as it does in the ACA.
