A months-long effort by Senate Republicans to pass health-care legislation collapsed after Republican John McCain of Arizona joined two of his colleagues to block a stripped-down Obamacare repeal bill. For this US President, Donald Trump said that “if a new Health Care Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAIL OUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” . It was unclear if Trump’s message means he also plans to directly target subsidies that are available to health insurance policies for some Congressional staff members. Thousands of members of Congress and staff are enrolled in plans on the Washington, DC, insurance exchange.
Affordable Care Act give subsidies to health insurance companies that help make insurance accessible to poorer Americans. Trump’s decision may critically destabilise health exchanges if it went ahead. The administration has previously floated the idea to cease subsidies that help insurers offset health care costs for low-income Americans, called a cost-sharing reduction, or CSR.
The president said earlier that Senate Republicans “look like fools” after the repeal bill went down, and made a renewed call for the Senate to abolish a rule requiring 60 votes for some bills — although the health care measure needed only a 51-vote majority to pass, and fell short. Ending the CSR subsidies, paid monthly to insurers, is one way that Trump could hasten Obamacare’s demise without legislation, by prompting more companies to raise premiums in the individual market or stop offering coverage.