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GOP health plan cuts Medicaid, ends penalties

Posted at 9:51 PM, Jun 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-21 21:51:27-04

Sources say top Senate Republicans are finalizing their plan for dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law.

Their proposal would cut and revamp Medicaid, end penalties on people not buying coverage and eliminate tax increases that financed the statute's expansion of coverage.

That's according to lobbyists and congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Departing from the House-approved version of the legislation - which President Donald Trump privately called "mean" last week - the Senate plan would drop the House bill's waivers allowing states to let insurers boost premiums on some people with pre-existing conditions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., plans to release the measure Thursday morning and hopes to push it through the Senate next week.