Mike Lee, Utah Republican, says Senate unlikely to move forward on health care with McCain absence

Sen. Mike Lee said Thursday that he doesn’t see Republicans moving on health care without Sen. John McCain.

“As close as these vote margins are it’s hard for me to imagine moving on to this without John McCain present. I’m unfortunately unaware of what his condition entails,” Mr. Lee, Utah Republican, said on Fox News.

Mr. Lee also withdrew his support of the legislation last week, which ultimately killed the vote on the repeal bill. He did say, however, that if portions of the Consumer Freedom Amendment are adopted he could get to be a yes vote.

“I continue to believe there is a way to get there, but we have to remember that when the Democrats built Obamacare they built a Berlin Wall to keep Americans inside. The Consumer Freedom Amendment that I’m offering would tear that wall down,” he said. “If they added that, with the protection of dual pool [and] the protections of the fully loaded Consumer Freedom Amendment, I could get to yes.”

The Consumer Freedom Amendment aims to leave the existing Obamacare plans in place, while allowing insurance companies to sell other plans that don’t comply with the existing mandates.

Many have argued the dual plan structure would significantly increase the cost of the Obamacare plans since healthy people would likely be in a separate pool, and therefore not offset the higher cost of care for those who are sick.