Trump to lawmakers: get health care reform done by August

At least 10 Republicans have said they would not support the bill as written, including Senator Bill Cassidy, who told Fox News on Sunday that “clearly the draft plan is dead.”

Republican leaders are tweaking the measure, in a desperate bid to get enough of their party’s lawmakers on board, but Cassidy complained he has not even see the new version.

“Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don’t know. I’ve not seen the serious rewrite plan,” he said.

– ‘Time to move on’ –

Several Republican dissenters worry that the bill could leave millions uninsured.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the Senate plan would swell uninsured ranks by 22 million more people by 2026 as compared to current law.

McConnell intends to unveil a revamped draft as early as Thursday, Politico reported, with a new CBO “score” due the following week.

That would leave less than two weeks before the August recess — precious little time for the biggest legislative lift of Trump’s presidency to get across the finish line.

McConnell has signaled that if the repeal plan fails, a bipartisan fix of Obamacare might be needed.

Democrats have long said they are ready to work with Republican in that effort, and on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote McConnell urging him to cooperate on several Obamacare-connected measures introduced by Democrats.

But Schumer also needled his rivals for stumbling in their repeal-and-replace bid.

“It’s time to move on from the failing Republican-only approach and start over in a bipartisan way in health care,” he said.