Updated July 28, at 9:30 a.m.:

The Senate rejected a "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act, a partial repeal that was debated in the middle of the night between July 27 and 28.

According to CNN, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and John McCain opposed the bill that would have resulted in 16 million people losing their health insurance by 2026. The bill was considered the minimum repeal option that Republicans could agree on, according to the BBC. McCain's opposition came as a surprise to many, particularly after he voted in favor of allowing discussion on a repeal and replace package.

After yet another blow to the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act in favor of a GOP-approved option, President Trump tweeted his disappointment.

"3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!" he wrote.

Previously...

The Senate voted to reject a repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan on Wednesday, July 26. According to the New York Times, senators will spend the rest of the week debating three possible amendments: Repeal and replace, partial repeal, and what has been called 'skinny’ repeal.

A day prior, the Senate voted twice: first, to begin discussing a bill that would repeal major components of the Affordable Care Act, which resulted in a 50–50 tie broken by Vice President Mike Pence, who voted to allow the debate. Later, a vote to repeal and replace with a replacement plan was rejected, with 43 votes for the bill and 57 against.

Despite having announced a brain cancer diagnosis just days earlier, Republican Senator John McCain traveled from Arizona to Washington, D.C., to cast his vote in favor of advancing first vote to allow the discussion.

Senator McCain lamented the dubious process his colleagues employed to get their legislation to the brink of a vote, saying from the Senate floor, "We’ve tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it’s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I don’t think that is going to work in the end.... Why don’t we try the old way of legislating in the Senate, the way our rules and customs encourage us to act?”

Many, however, were quick to point out the hypocrisy of Senator McCain's speech, considering that he voted to proceed with debates.

Prior to that, Republicans had worked to pass a revised health care bill in private despite major concern from the public, in yet another failed attempt. One of the main causes, besides the daunting prospect of over 22 million people going uninsured under the first proposed bill, was the GOP’s opaque legislative process.

On June 22, legislators unveiled a new Senate health care bill, again written in secret, featuring key differences with the one originally passed by the House, CNN reported. According to CNN, the Senate bill would continue the Medicaid expansion funding put in place by the Affordable Care Act through 2021, then phase it out over the course of three years. While the phasing out is more gradual than the House bill, The Washington Post reported that the cuts to the health care program for low-income people would be larger. As for the House bill, Planned Parenthood would be subjected to severe cuts in federal funding for one year, with future cuts imminent if the health care provider elects to continue performing abortions, according to The Washington Post.