Strategy To Exclude Moderates, Women From 13-Man Working Group May Come Back To Bite McConnell
The more moderate senators now have no obligation to fall in line behind the group’s final health law draft and will almost surely continue to work on their own ideas. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump plans to take a hands-off approach to the upper chamber's negotiations and let Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrangle the votes he needs.
The New York Times:
Divided Senate Republicans Turn To Health Care With A Rough Road Ahead
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has a reputation as a shrewd tactician and a wily strategist — far more than his younger counterpart in the House, Speaker Paul D. Ryan. So the Senate majority leader’s decision to create a 13-man working group on health care, including staunch conservatives and ardent foes of the Affordable Care Act — but no women — has been widely seen on Capitol Hill as a move to placate the right as Congress decides the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. (Pear, 5/8)
The Associated Press:
Health Care Fight Shifts To Senate, Where GOP Wants A Reboot
It took blood, sweat and tears for Republican leaders to finally push their health care bill through the House last week. Don't expect the process to be less arduous in the Senate, though more of the angst in that more decorous chamber will likely be behind closed doors. (Fram, 5/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Confront Health-Bill Backlash
House Republicans may have won the battle to pass a health-care overhaul, but the fight over public messaging that is now ramping up could be critical to the shape of the bill that emerges from the Senate and to any final compromise. GOP leaders and the Trump administration are urgently trying to tamp down a backlash from Democrats and some Republicans who say the House legislation rolling back and replacing much of the Affordable Care Act would imperil coverage for millions of Americans. (Armour and Peterson, 5/8)
Politico:
White House To Let McConnell Do His Thing On Health Care
The White House is indicating it will take a hands-off approach to the Senate's healthcare work, entrusting Mitch McConnell and his team to come up with the 50 votes needed to replace Obamacare, according to GOP officials and lawmakers. (Everett and Dawsey, 5/8)
And in other news —
Politico:
Left Adopts Shock Tactics In Obamacare Repeal Fight
One newly formed progressive super PAC is planning to cart caskets to Republican lawmakers' districts and hold mock funerals for their constituents. Another activist is encouraging protesters to ship their own ashes — should they die without health care —to GOP lawmakers. And other progressive groups are planning graphic "die-in" protests as they work to derail GOP plans to repeal Obamacare. Democrats, already frothing with anger over losing the White House to Donald Trump, are seething anew over the advancing Republican plan to gut Obamacare. (Vogel and Cheney, 5/9)
Stateline:
Scrapping ‘Essential Benefits’ May Be Biggest Health Care Change
Critics of the Republican health care plan the House passed last week mostly have focused on how it might harm Americans with pre-existing health conditions and poor and disabled people who rely on Medicaid — two vulnerable, but limited, populations. But another change might have more far-reaching effects: eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s “essential health benefits,” or EHBs. That shift could affect almost everybody, including the 156 million Americans who receive health coverage through their employers. (Ollove, 5/9)
The New York Times:
G.O.P. Bill Could Affect Employer Health Coverage, Too
If it becomes law, the American Health Care Act will have the biggest effects on people who buy their own insurance or get coverage through Medicaid. But it also means changes for the far larger employer health system. About half of all Americans get health coverage through work. The bill would make it easier for employers to increase the amount that employees could be asked to pay in premiums, or to stop offering coverage entirely. (Sanger-Katz, 5/9)