Republican leaders are stuck in a tough balancing act on one of the biggest issues with their healthcare bill

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June 19, 2017 9:51 PM

Senate Republican leadership is trying to thread the needle in their bill to bridge one of the biggest healthcare divides in the party.

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Rank-and-file GOP senators have been divided on Medicaid funding since the beginning of the debate over the new healthcare overhaul.

Some members, especially in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, want to preserve higher federal funding levels to help maintain access to healthcare for the low-income people Medicaid is designed to help.

More conservative members have decried the expansion as a new entitlement and believe its funding should be stripped immediately.

Here are the three big changes being discussed, according to the reports:

growth in Medicaid spending after 2025.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House proposed changes would result in 14 million more people going without insurance by 2026 compared to the current baseline. It will be unclear how the Senate's changes would impact that number until a CBO score is released for its version of the legislation.

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