WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans showed Friday they have little use for the House bill to replace the Affordable Care Act amid fears among Americans that people already sick won’t be able to get affordable insurance.

“I’m going to read the House bill, find out what it costs and where I find good ideas there, why we’ll borrow them. But basically we’re writing our own bill,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee, said in an interview.

“At this point, there seem to be more questions than answers about its consequences,” said moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, whose vote may prove one of the hardest to get for President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said over Twitter: “A bill — finalized yesterday, has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and 3 hours final debate — should be viewed with caution.”

The skepticism pointed to a long road in the Senate. And for a president who’s already expressed disappointment in Congress’ slow-moving ways, more frustration seemed assured.

“I don’t think anyone in the Senate is going to be bullied into artificial benchmarks or timelines,” said Josh Holmes, a GOP consultant and former chief of staff to McConnell. “It will be a very different process that will look very different from the one that we just saw unfolding in the House.”

Senate leaders have vowed success. “Failure is not an option,” No. 2 Senate leader John Cornyn, R-Texas, said earlier this year.

McConnell plans to move forward under special procedures that allow legislation to pass with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 usually required for major bills in the Senate. That means he will only need Republican votes, which is all he can rely on anyway since Democrats are refusing to participate. But under complicated Senate rules, it also limits what can go into the legislation.

And with a slim 52-48 majority, McConnell can lose only two senators from his sometimes fractious caucus, which runs the gamut from moderates like Collins to conservatives like Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas. Then there are those senators who are up for re-election in 2018. Only two are in any serious jeopardy, Dean Heller of Nevada and Jeff Flake of Arizona, but they are certain to be cautious about casting their vote for anything that jeopardizes their constituents.

The Democratic House and Senate campaign committees both released digital ads lambasting supporters of the legislation. Major Democratic Super PAC American Bridge also released a digital ad declaring: “Tell Senate Republicans this is their mess now, and we are watching.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has threatened they will “glow in the dark” over their vote.

The House bill, passed 217-213, would end the health care law’s fines on people who don’t purchase policies and its taxes on health industry businesses and higher-earning people. It would dilute consumer-friendly insurance coverage requirements, like letting states permit insurers to charge higher premiums for customers with pre-existing medical conditions.