As mentioned in prior blog posts, the Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate and need 50 out of 52 Republicans to vote for the health care bill. Both conservatives and centrists want different provisions in the bill, and Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-KY.) is struggling to bring the factions together in a way that will attract the votes of both of these groups. Once rewritten, he still needs to produce a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of the legislation’s impact on coverage levels and federal spending. Senate McConnell is planning on sending a revised version of his health care bill to the CBO as soon as Friday as he continues to push for a vote before Congress’s August recess. The August recess is just two weeks of working days away, so Senator McConnell has to work fast to bring the bill to a vote in the Senate.

For more information on this topic, contact your Health Care counsel at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.