McCain on the Senate Healthcare Bill: “My View Is That It’s Probably Going to Be Dead”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) admitted on Face the Nation Sunday that he thinks the Senate healthcare bill is “probably going to be dead.”

The Arizona senator expressed doubts about whether the Senate Republicans can pass their healthcare reform bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). McCain also said that Republicans would probably need to work with Democrats to pass a healthcare reform bill.

The former presidential candidate echoed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s sentiment that if Republicans remain unable to pass the Senate leadership’s BCRA, he will broker a deal with Democrats instead.

McConnell admitted, “If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur. No action is not an alternative. … We’ve got the insurance markets imploding all over the country, including in this state.”

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) recently revealed that the reason he believes Republicans have had so much trouble repealing Obamacare is that he and other Republicans did not expect President Donald Trump to win the election in November.

“Look, I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. I think most of my colleagues didn’t, so we didn’t expect to be in this situation,” Sen. Toomey said.

McConnell delayed the vote on the BCRA after at least seven senators opposed the bill in its current form. Conservatives opposed the bill for not repealing enough of Obamacare, while moderates worried about how the BCRA might strip protections for pre-existing conditions and roll back Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion too fast.

Sen. McCain recently said on Fox News, “Clearly, the draft plan is dead. Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don’t know. I’ve not seen the serious rewrite plan.”