Senate GOP health law repeal delivers wins to party's wings

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leaders seem to have carried out a delicate balancing act in their drive to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law and close the federal funds spigot to Planned Parenthood.

[...] Obama is primed to veto the bill when it reaches his desk.

[...] Democrats say the GOP exercise is a partisan charade aimed at setting up Republicans to use the health care law as a wedge issue in the election campaign next year.

The GOP says a veto will only help its presidential and congressional candidates by underscoring that Republican control of the White House and Congress could spell the end of the law they derisively label "Obamacare" and would imperil Planned Parenthood's federal dollars.

Conservative senators are happy the measure before the Senate would all but kill the 2010 Affordable Care Act, effectively abrogating its requirements that individuals obtain health insurance and that large companies offer coverage to workers.

The bill would also repeal the law's expanded Medicaid coverage for lower-income people and its federal subsidies for those buying policies in insurance marketplaces, while repealing tax increases on items including medical devices.

For GOP senators facing tough re-election fights, the measure offers some relief: a two-year delay in its repeal of exchange subsidies and the Medicaid expansion, according to lawmakers.