The House Rules Committee cleared Friday morning the Republicans’ health care bill to repeal and replace Obamacare out of committee by a vote of 9-3, setting up for a final floor vote later in the day.
The committee set up the parameters for the debate for the House floor vote:
It will be closed rule, meaning no members can offer amendments on the floor.
After one hour of rule debate — which wrapped around 11 a.m. ET — members will begin general debate currently budgeted to last four hours
What to watch during the vote: All of the undecided or lean no Republicans who stand at the back of the chamber, watching the vote count and hoping they don’t have to walk the plank if leadership is one or two votes short.
Whips have been checking in via text message and asking members if there’s anything they need. As one lawmaker told CNN on Friday: Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney “laid it down last night. Not much more to say or do. You’re either in or you’re out.”
A number of members said Thursday they were planning to sleep on the decision or pray on it overnight.
What’s the hold up? While much of the attention has been on the House Freedom Caucus, which represents the most financially conservative wing of the Republican party, moderates are as much or more of a key player in whether the bill passes.
The final bill that Republicans will vote for Friday would repeal 10 Essential Health Benefits, a term used to describe a provision of Obamacare — or the Affordable Care Act — that required certain health insurance plans to cover 10 services, including maternity, prescription drugs, substance abuse and mental health.
The legislation would scrap the individual mandate and allow insurers to charge higher premiums to those whose coverage has lapsed. It would provide refundable tax credits, based mainly on age, for individuals to purchase health insurance. It would also curtail federal support for Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood for a year. It seeks to maintain Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions, but no longer require insurers to offer comprehensive policies.
Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus fought successfully to include a measure to repeal of the Essential Health Benefits in Friday’s version of the bill.
To mollify moderates, the bill also contains language that would give $15 billion in funding for maternity care, mental health and drug rehabilitation programs, as well as requiring individual states to set their own versions of essential health benefits by 2018. It’s unclear if those changes are enough to win over enough votes from moderates.
The bottom line: Anyone who tells you they know what’s going to happen is lying.