Senate Republicans unveil revised health-care bill

Senate Republicans on Thursday released a revised draft of their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The second draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act puts an additional $70 billion toward covering out-of-pocket costs and $45 billion toward battling the opioid epidemic and adds a provision that would allow people to use health savings accounts to pay their premiums.

The revised bill also enables insurers to provide lower-premium plans that provide less coverage, as long as they offer at least one plan that follows ObamaCare standards. The amendment is similar to one proposed by Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah), though some experts worry that the option will make the more comprehensive ObamaCare-compliant plans prohibitively expensive for the sicker customers who need them.

The new bill also retains two ObamaCare taxes on the wealthy that were axed in the first iteration of the bill. Cuts to Medicaid remain largely intact.

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Republican leadership is eyeing a vote on the revised bill next week, following the release of a new score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Read the full text of the bill here.