GOP holdout: Cruz amendment not the solution on healthcare

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has come out against the Republican plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, said Sunday that Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) amendment is not the route to take as Republican lawmakers push new healthcare legislation.

“Senator Cruz’s approach is not the answer,” Collins told CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to Cruz’s amendment, which allows insurance providers to sell plans that do not adhere to ObamaCare regulations as long as they sell one plan that does meet the requirements. 

“There is a way to deal with this, and that is by creating a reinsurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions,” she said.

Collins said that while she has not recently heard directly from President Trump to discuss healthcare, she has heard from his chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

{mosads}Collins, who has said she will vote against the motion to proceed on the latest version of the GOP’s legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, expressed doubt that the current bill will pass the Senate. 

“And so at the end of the day, I don’t know whether it will pass,” Collins said in the interview.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) late Saturday announced that he will delay the upper chamber’s consideration of the bill while Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recovers from surgery.