American lawmakers are working through the weekend for the first time since the government shutdown began more than a month ago, but hopes for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the standoff appeared to diminish as Republican senators proposed a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown
The effect on Americans from the longest shutdown of the US government in history worsened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, airlines were forced to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As weekend meeting got started, Republican senators welcomed a proposal made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for government payments to be replaced by health savings accounts.
"My recommendation is 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 posted.
GOP Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is similar to a replacement for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the patient," one senator stated.
Another senator praised Trump's suggestion on online platforms, and stood next to a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.
"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator wrote in response to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Opposition Response
Democratic senators expressed concerned reactions to Trump's plan.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by voters and Congress."
Another lawmaker responded to the censure of insurance companies by writing: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the large insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? In that case I welcome your support for Medicare for All."
Continuing Talks
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an developing plan from a small group of moderate Democrats to end the closure in return for a future vote on the Obamacare payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans turned down an proposal to reopen the government and extend the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the payments before negotiating the future of the tax credits.
"Doing nothing is derelict because citizens will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get more ill," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Situation
None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy coverage from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the support 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 pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that failed to garner enough backing in 2017.
