in the last minute negotiations, what the white house and leadership extended to these conservatives, house freedom caucus members, are doing away with these essential health benefits. this is everything from maternity coverage, hospitalization, drug prescriptions, all of these things are now going away in this house bill. and all of this of course will decide if conservatives, moderates, it actually be able to get on board this bill and support it when the vote happens this afternoon. mj, thanks so much. sanjay, why don t we start with where mj left off, these essential health benefits. it s very important to get these conservative members of the house freedom caucus on board. what does this mean for folks at home? i think this is probably the biggest issue i think from the patient s perspective, from the people who are actually using the health care system. as mj talked about, what happened was when the affordable care act was being negotiated and subsequently passed, they said w
that doesn t sound good for you. no, i strongly disagree with mo s terminology there, just being frank with you. this is the largest medicaid reform in 50 years. five decades, $880 billion that it drives down. it repeals the mandates, not because of the talking points but both on the employers as well as the individual. it is time to vote yes. this is something we ve been working on for months. the president, the vice president, have taken lead on this. if we re going to get serious about repealing and replacing obamacare, that day is today. but you ve also been on the other side of this, you ve got moderates who say the way this bill has been constructed, especially in the late hours, it s getting further away, not closer, to where they need it on medicaid, on essential health benefits. listen here to charlie dent. he was frustrated last night. are you a yes vote? i ve declared my opposition to the bill. and it s because of the
we will have men being part of the payment of maternity health care services makes it so women aren t automatically charged more. little bit of an obscure concept but worth thinking about. we re helping take care of each other in a way through insurance. it s the nature of insurance. how people discuss that one. sanjay, thank you so much. back to the realm of politics. loet me bring in dan holler for heritage action for america. of course, this is the advocacy arm linked to the conservative think tank the heritage foundation. thanks for sticking around, dan. you all are a no on this and that s what you re telling lawmakers. what are you warning lawmakers right now if they vote yes? the real challenge with this bill, it will not do enough to drive down premiums. if you think what obamacare was at its core, the regulations that you were just talking about withson jay and basically
richard burr and the ranking democrat on the committee. let s see who pops up next for a press conference, guys. thanks for sticking with me. important things going on on capitol hill hours from now, including this one. hours to go before the republicans health care bill heads to a vote on the house floor, so we re told. a live picture of the house floor. while support for the bill is still in flux, so are some of the bill s key details. cnn s national politics reporter mj lee is live on capitol hill, she s been following this from the very beginning. also joining us is cnn s chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. guys, great to have you, thanks so much for being here. mj, republicans might not even know the answer to this. lay it out for us. what s in the bill, what s out of the bill at this moment? reporter: kate, you ve been hearing all week a lot of conservative republicans on capitol hill referring to this bill as obamacare-lite or obamacare 2. that s because they thin
them. that s what we re seeing right now. i ll say this. yesterday i would have been a firm no vote on this bill had i been in congress. some of the changes that happened overnight make it much more palatable to me. getting rid of those essential health services is a very key point for conservatives who want to bring the free-market principles back to the process. i had a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer and she went to ucla medical center which is a research institution. she went through an exploratory surgery that let her treat the cancer without going through chemo or radiation and she s in remission. obamacare came along and the health care plan that allowed her to do that doesn t exist because it s not in compliance with all the other requirements. this gives people serious, real options for their health care needs and i think it s something that it s due time that we have back. so, even before votes are happening. even before the votes start, kevin, you already have