Not only were ALL the Democrats totally excluded from the process, most Republicans were too.

"McConnell bypassed the committees that deal with health policy, both Finance and Health, Education, Pensions, and Labor by handpicking 13 Republican senators—all middle-aged and elderly white men—to work in complete privacy to draft the bill. Besides women like Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, McConnell also left off Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician with deeper knowledge of health policy than nearly all of the 13 chosen. The gang of 13 kept their vow of omerta, leaving even their Republican colleagues at sea during their sessions. And of course, McConnell brushed aside peremptorily any notion that Democrats would be brought into deliberations, or consulted."