Increasingly Wary Senators Warn Bill Won’t Pass Without Changes
The problems lawmakers have with the legislation include the potential loss of insurance coverage, changes to Medicaid, the trajectory of premium prices and the bill’s impact on costs paid by older, low-income and rural Americans.
The New York Times:
G.O.P. Senators Suggest Changes For Health Care Bill Offered By House
A day after a harsh judgment by the Congressional Budget Office on the House plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, nervous Senate Republicans on Tuesday suggested changes to the bill. They told Trump administration officials — including the health secretary, Tom Price — that they wanted to see lower insurance costs for poorer, older Americans and an increase in funding for states with high populations of hard-to-insure people. (Steinhauer and Kaplan, 3/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
GOP Senators Say House Health Bill Won’t Pass Without Changes
Republican senators, alarmed by a nonpartisan report showing millions would lose insurance under the GOP health-care plan, warned Tuesday that the bill wouldn’t become law without fundamental changes. At least a dozen Republican senators, including some who had previously kept a low profile in the health debate, made clear they had concerns over the bill’s policy proposals, complicating House leaders’ hopes that the bill’s momentum would overpower internal GOP infighting over legislative details. (Peterson and Hackman and Radnofsky, 3/14)
The Washington Post:
There Are Now More Than 50 Republicans Skeptical Of The GOP’s Obamacare Replacement Bill
To get their version of an Obamacare replacement through Congress and onto President Trump's desk, Republican leaders need only a simple majority in both chambers to approve it. But that could be difficult. The magic number to pass the legislation in the House is 218, and in the Senate, 50. Republicans conceivably have enough lawmakers to get to those majorities, but not by much. Assuming no Democrats support the bill, Republicans can lose only 21 votes in the House and just two in the Senate. (Phillips, 3/14)
In more news —
Politico:
Republicans Can't Stop Feuding Over Obamacare
The scathing nonpartisan analysis of Republicans’ Obamacare repeal plan is hardening GOP divisions and raising doubts about whether the party in Congress can meet a self-imposed deadline to pass legislation by early April. (Everett and Bade, 3/14)
Los Angeles Times:
GOP'S Stumbles Over Obamacare Underscore The Party's Competing Goals For Healthcare Reform
The House GOP effort to repeal and replace Obamacare appeared in deep trouble Tuesday, underscoring the limits of a party that has traditionally put a priority on cutting taxes and government spending over digging into the details of safeguarding Americans’ healthcare. Many Republicans in Congress remain in outright revolt over the bill, warning it does not have enough votes to pass the House or Senate against stiff Democratic resistance. (Mascaro, 3/15)
Politico:
5 Obamacare Mistakes The GOP Is Repeating
Republicans took careful notes about the mistakes Democrats made as they passed Obamacare in 2010 and exploited them relentlessly to undermine support for the law. Now that they’re trying to repeal the law, they are walking into some of the same traps. (Haberkorn, 3/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Administration Shifts Away From 'Insurance For Everybody'
The White House shifted away from President Trump's stated goal of providing "insurance for everybody" on Tuesday, instead promising that the House GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare offers "more people the option to get healthcare." (Bierman, 3/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
GOP Health Bill Will Lower Premiums For Young People, CBO Says
A federal analysis of a Republican health plan that shows it would leave millions more uninsured has a silver lining for GOP leaders: In general, premiums under their proposal would eventually come down for younger people. The report, which came out late Monday and was swiftly pounced on by Democrats as proof Republicans want to tear away health coverage from Americans, gives the clearest picture yet of the trade-offs in the GOP strategy to topple parts of the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a new plan. (Armour, 3/14)
The Hill:
Five Key Findings From The CBO's Healthcare Score
The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis of the Republican plan to replace ObamaCare is sending shockwaves through Washington. Democrats have seized on the report, while Republicans have been split over whether to attack the CBO’s conclusions or focus on the more positive aspects of the analysis. (Sullivan, 3/14)
The Associated Press Fact Check:
Both Sides Loose With Facts In Health Debate
The Congressional Budget Office report on a Republican health care bill set off an intense reaction in Washington, and some on both sides of the debate are playing loose with the facts. Republicans are overlooking President Donald Trump’s promise to deliver “insurance for everybody,” which the CBO makes clear will not happen if the legislation becomes law. Democrats are assailing Republicans for “attacking the messenger,” seeming to forget all the times they assailed the budget office themselves. (Woodward and Drinkard, 3/14)
The Washington Post:
4 Big Things Missing From The CBO Report On Republicans’ Health-Care Bill
Congress’s nonpartisan budget referees on Monday provides the first detailed study of the real-world effects of Republicans’ bill to overhaul health care. The GOP bill, the Congressional Budget Office found, would repeal hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, especially on industry and wealthy households. It would make deep cuts into Medicaid and provide smaller subsidies to people looking to buy health insurance. And after eight years, 24 million more people would be uninsured as a result of the bill. There are a few urgent questions that the CBO report does not address, however. Here’s a look at what we still don’t know. (Ehrenfreund, 3/14)
The Washington Post:
Trump Loyalists Sound Alarm Over ‘RyanCare,’ Endangering Health Bill
A simmering rebellion of conservative populists loyal to President Trump is further endangering the GOP health-care push, with a chorus of influential voices suspicious of the proposal warning the president to abandon it. From headlines at Breitbart to chatter on Fox News Channel and right-wing talk radio, as well as among friends who have Trump’s ear, the message has been blunt: The plan being advanced by congressional Republican leaders is deeply flawed — and, at worst, a political trap. (Costa and Rucker, 3/14)
The New York Times:
Cutting Planned Parenthood Would Increase Medicaid Births, C.B.O. Says
Cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood — a longstanding conservative goal that is included in the Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act — would sharply increase Medicaid births, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (Zernike, 3/14)