After hours of debate and amendment proposals, Senate Republicans finally unveiled a bill for a so-called "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act.

  • Senate Republican unveiled skinny repeal of Affordable Care Act
  • Bill repeals individual, employer mandates
  • If bill is passed overnight, House next acts on the bill

The bill is eight pages long. It repeals both the individual mandate, the tax penalty on most people who did not get health care coverage, and the employer mandate. The bill also:

  • Extends the moratorium on the tax on medical devices
  • Gives states waivers so insurers can sell policies that don't meet essential benefit requirements
  • Ban federal dollars for Planned Parenthood 
  • Expands Health Savings Accounts
  • Provide money for community health centers

The bill includes no changes in Medicaid policy, nor does it include money to fight the opioid epidemic.

Repealing the mandates are especially unpalatable for medical groups, which say the exit of healthy people from the health insurance pool will drive up premiums for everyone else.

Initially several Republicans opposed the skinny repeal, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The senators, however, got assurance from House Speaker Paul Ryan that if the skinny repeal passes the Senate, the bill will be fixed in conference with the House.

So if Ryan keeps the promise, the skinny repeal will not be the final bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

And there's a chance the House would not abide by a skinny repeal anyway. House conservatives have largely balked at any bill that doesn't more fully repeal the ACA. But if a compromise can't be reached in conference, the skinny repeal may get passed by default.

If the Senate passes the bill overnight, the House could move on the bill in the next couple of days. The House may also wait and negotiate with the Senate, likely in September.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.