Ten Republican colleagues have reached out to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York to discuss a bipartisan approach to healthcare legislation, Politico reported Monday.
"No one thought Obamacare was perfect — it needs a lot of improvements," Schumer said after a press conference at Albany Medical Center. "We're willing to work in a bipartisan way to do it. What we objected to was just pulling the rug out from it and taking away the good things that it did: Medicaid coverage for people with parents in nursing homes, for opioid treatment, for kids with disabilities, pre-existing conditions."
Republicans suffered a major setback Friday when a stripped-down version of the Obamacare repeal bill was defeated after three party members voted it down, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Their opposition earned the wrath of President Donald Trump and other congressional colleagues, and some GOP members since have urged the White House to focus on other issues. Schumer told McCain ahead of the vote that he was committed to improving the health care system and expressed hope that the bill's failure would lead to a bipartisan approach to healthcare.