Last week, Trump Administration introduced new developments for the future of national healthcare. Healthcare reform, one of the biggest platforms for President Trump's 2016 campaign, has been hotly contested by both Democrats and Republicans since the implementation of Obamacare in 2010. Since then, the Trump administration has rallied for a replacement for the Obama-era healthcare plan. The Graham-Cassidy bill, proposed by Republican senators Lindsey O. Graham and Bill Cassidy, is the latest suggestion for healthcare reform.

The Graham-Cassidy bill argues for powerful changes to Obamacare. A few of the changes include removing Obamacare subsidies that lower co-payments and deductibles for medical care, and reducing federal spending on government-provided healthcare for those with limited resources. Instead, the new bill would place the federal funding in the hands of state governments to allocate towards different affairs such as lowering payments for medical care costs. While both plans can lead to removing the financial burden on healthcare recipients, the Graham-Cassidy bill leaves this decision up to state governments to decide on. Other changes to the Obamacare bill under the Graham-Cassidy bill are the removal of regulations on pre-existing conditions and financial regulations on payments by senior citizens. The bill would allow states to alter medical care prices based on the presence of pre-existing conditions, as well as remove restrictions on increasing the prices for older Americans, potentially making medical care worse for older citizens.

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Appearing as one of the first endorsements for a new healthcare bill by the President, an optimistic tweet by the Donald J. Trump stated "I hope Republican Senators will vote for Graham-Cassidy and fulfill their promise to Repeal & Replace ObamaCare. Money direct to States!" Prior to this tweet, the President has never openly supported a healthcare reform bill. According to White House officials, the President and Vice President have also taken part in calls to members of Congress concerning the new bill.

Although the recent bill has been proposed by the Republican party, it has received criticism from senators regardless of party affiliation. By Monday, Republican Senator Susan Collins announced that she would vote against the new bill. Senator Collins further explained her disapproval of the proposed reform, stating that the bill would "open the door for states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes." According to Collins, the reform further "[cannot] be done well in a compressed time frame, especially when the actual bill is a moving target."

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Less than 24 hours after Senator Collins' disapproval of the Graham-Cassidy bill, the Republican senate announced that they would not be voting on the bill any longer. Joining the looming opposition towards the bill was a variety of hospitals, doctors and consumer organizations. The decision to abandon the Graham-Cassidy bill marks another defeat for the Republican senate towards determining a repeal for Obamacare. In order to begin a new proposal for a Obamacare repeal, Republican senators will have to pass another budget plan to avoid obstruction from Democratic congress members.

Until then, the Republican senate will focus efforts towards tax reform by fighting for lowered taxes for the middle class and increasing competition between businesses. Nevertheless, the Republican party will continue to have healthcare reform on their mind. According to Republican senator and majority leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican senate "[hasn't] given up on changing the American healthcare system. We are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us, and we haven't given up on that."