reporter: within hours of senate republicans releasing their health care bill, four members announcing they currently oppose the plan as leaders make the case for it is passage. there will be ample time to analyze, discuss and provide thoughts before legislation comes to the floor and i hope every senator takes that opportunity. reporter: republicans can only lose two votes and still pass the bill. but as it stands now, rand paul, ted cruz, mike lee and ron johnson say they can t support the bill in its current form but are, quote, open to negotiation. the intention is not to take down the bill. the intention is to make the bill better. reporter: a pair of moderate gop senators, susan collins and dean heller both voice concerns. this allows states to waive the mandate on essential health benefits which may not cover pre-existing conditions. it also slows rollback of the obama medicaid expansion included in the house bill delaying the start of that process until 2021.
depends on how you define better. the obama administration, the obamacare had bells and whistles on all of their policies. so if you were. steve: essential health benefits which states now will decide. yes and no. essential health benefits are only about a small portion of the cost. that said, there is a lot of things mandated that folks just couldn t afford. so, when you are paying 20, 30, $40,000 for a premium. it doesn t matter what s in the policy. you can t afford the policy e. steve: you know, senator, time is short. if the president is tweeting, there is a possibility he is watching you right now. he wants to know whether or not this is going to pass the senate. we have to wait and see how i don t have a whip count so there is different senators who have different concerns. that said, do i think this is a good beginning. the concerns i have and others have are addressed, i think it will pass and that will be good for the united states of america. steve: if it goes past the
this through? i hope so. people have different opinions. and they have a lot of ideological opinions as well. but it s time to put that aside and move. reporter: but moving fast may be difficult. senators tried to digest exactly what the draft does. among the key provisions, draft repeals obamacare s taxes and individual mandates. provides more generous subsidies to purchase insurance than the house passed bill and takes a different path to cutting back obamacare regulation. priority for conservative aims to drive down premiums. dropping the house effort to grant state waivers for rules that provided price protections for those with preexisting conditions as well as the ten essential health benefits required by obamacare. while it institutes a slower phaseout than the house counterpart, a key ask for moderate senators, like the house bill, the senate version fundamentally reshapes the medicaid program, and it goes
among the key provisions, draft repeals obamacare s taxes and individual mandates. provides more generous subsidies to purchase insurance than the house passed bill and takes a different path to cutting back obamacare regulation. priority for conservative aims to drive down premiums. dropping the house effort to grant state waivers for rules that provided price protections for those with preexisting conditions as well as the ten essential health benefits required by obamacare. while it institutes a slower phaseout than the house counterpart, a key ask for moderate senators, like the house bill, the senate version fundamentally reshapes the medicaid program, and it goes further. institute to what is deeper cuts than the house version slowing spending growth over time. republicans defending the proposal as necessary to sustain the program. tonight, democrats are infuriated.
colleges rise up to say, oh, yeah, come give us your pell grants. it looks like you can create the seeds of that if you re not very careful with how you implement something like the. you first. i m worried that with the loss of the essential health benefits, the changes in the tax credit. the value proposition will be crappy care at a convenient cost. right. totally disagree with that. i think you will see premiums go down relative to prior law. you will see deductibles go down, more choice, more competition and more stable markets. which will be very important for the long term. i would say, if this thing were to pass, lord, would i hope that his vision is correct. i hope if he s wrong, people will pay a price.