The Latest: Study finds health bill would reshuffle dollars
By Associated Press
Sep 21, 2017 11:41 AM CDT
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined by, from left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters as he pushes a last-ditch effort to uproot former President Barack...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Republican effort to end "Obamacare" and replace it with a new health care law (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

A study finds the latest GOP effort to end "Obamacare" would take federal dollars away from states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The study says the states that didn't expand Medicaid would initially get more federal dollars under the Republican Graham-Cassidy bill.

The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation study came out Thursday. It estimates the states that didn't expand Medicaid would get an average of 12 percent more.

The study says states that expanded Medicaid to serve more low-income adults would face a cut of around 11 percent from 2020-2026.

The biggest losers, percentage-wise, would be: New York, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont and Minnesota. California would be the biggest loser in dollars.

The biggest winners would be: Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

But the study says those gains could vanish over time.

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3:55 a.m.

The Republican drive to upend 'Obamacare' with a new health law is getting a boost from a sense of political necessity.

There's fresh evidence GOP voters are adamant that the party achieve its long-promised goal of replacing the Obama-era law. Success is far from assured but many Republicans are feeling pressure to get it done.

GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham have spent weeks concocting and selling the party's new approach to scrapping Obamacare.

They say their proposal, shifting money and decision-making from Washington to the states, nearly has the votes it would need in a showdown expected next week, a deadline that's focused the party on making a final run at the issue.