TOP GOP SENATOR: It's 'unlikely that we will get a healthcare deal' this year

Republican Sen. Richard Burr cast doubt on the likelihood that Congress would be able to reach an agreement on a healthcare bill this year during an interview on Thursday.

"I don't see a comprehensive health care plan this year," Burr told WXII News in Sanford, North Carolina.

GOP senators are currently working to craft their own version of a healthcare bill after identifying various issues with the House's American Health Care Act.

When asked about about the House bill, Burr called it dead on arrival. "It's also not a good plan," the senator said.

While Burr is not part of the Republican working group for the healthcare bill, he is a long-time ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senate Republicans want to get a vote on a healthcare bill before the month-long August recess, but the bill is not guaranteed to pass. Additionally, any bill that differs from the House's AHCA would have to go through a compromise process to reconcile the changes.

Burr said that, given the issues facing the healthcare bill, he has been looking to the problems facing the Obamacare exchanges as they currently exist.

"It's unlikely that we will get a health care deal, which means that most of my time has been spent trying to figure out solutions to Iowa losing all of its insurers, to Tennessee losing theirs, to North Carolina only having one insurer in 95 out of 100 counties" Burr said.

Many insurers have exited the individual insurance markets due to financial losses and policy uncertainty due to actions by Trump and Republicans in Congress.