Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives to speak with reporters following the successful vote to open debate on a health care bill on Capitol Hill, July 25, 2017.
Republican senators formed the last-ditch effort, called the "Health Care Freedom Act" after earlier votes on the Senate's repeal and replace plan, and a repeal without a replacement plan failed.
The skinny bill includes a series of amendments that would aim to repeal certain unpopular parts of the Affordable Care Act.
Here's what's in the bill:
- The bill would repeal both the individual and employer mandates, which requires individuals to have health insurance, and employers to provide health insurance to employees. If they don't, they face a penalty fee under Obamacare.
- The bill repeals a tax on medical-device makers for three years.
- It provides flexibility to states through 1332 waivers to expand the types of health plans they offer.
- It increases the amount people can put in health savings accounts.
- It funds community health centers.
The bill is nowhere near as extensive as the full-repeal plan or the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). But it would seek to alter the much-criticized mandates that Republicans have targeted for years.
Without seeing the text, the Congressional Budget Office scored the "skinny" plan Wednesday night and found that it would leave 16 million more Americans without health insurance.