‘We Have Enough Votes’: GOP Confident Health Plan Will Pass With Help From New Amendment
Still, the vote, expected to happen around lunchtime Thursday, is anticipated to be a nail-biter down to the last minute.
USA Today:
Obamacare Repeal: Republicans Scramble In 11th Hour With New Health Plan
House Republicans will take another crack at repealing Obamacare on Thursday in a high-stakes vote on legislation that would dramatically revamp the health care system and will serve as a major test for the GOP Congress and the Trump administration. The Republican bill, hotly contested and highly controversial, was the subject of 11th-hour negotiations and last-minute sweeteners, as GOP leaders scrambled for enough votes to push it through the House and send it to the Senate. (Shesgreen, 5/4)
Politico:
Decision Day For Obamacare Repeal
House Republicans will huddle Thursday morning for what amounts to a last-minute pep rally to buck up colleagues as they prepare to take a vote to remake health insurance for millions of Americans. ... Though Republican leaders insisted Wednesday they've secured the 216 votes needed to pass their bill, the roll call will still be nerve-wracking. At least 16 Republicans are still on record rejecting the proposal and about a dozen more are undecided. (Cheney and Bresnahan, 5/4)
The New York Times:
With $8 Billion Deal On Health Bill, House G.O.P. Leader Says ‘We Have Enough Votes’
House Republican leaders planned to hold a showdown vote Thursday on their bill to repeal and replace large portions of the Affordable Care Act after adding $8 billion to the measure to help cover insurance costs for people with pre-existing conditions. “We have enough votes,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said Wednesday night. “It’ll pass.” (Kaplan and Pear, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Republicans Plan Health-Care Vote On Thursday, Capping Weeks Of Fits And Starts
Rep. Fred Upton, an influential Republican from Michigan, introduced the amendment that was key to resolving a major sticking point this week. It provides more financial assistance — $8 billion over five years — to help people with preexisting conditions pay for medical costs. Those people are at risk of losing protections under the GOP plan, which seeks to repeal and replace major parts of the ACA. Just a day earlier, Upton said he could not support the Republican plan because of its stance on preexisting conditions. But he sounded an optimistic note after sketching out his fix Wednesday and meeting with President Trump at the White House. (Sullivan, Weigel and Snell, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Who Opposes The New Republican Health Care Bill In The House?
To understand who opposes the bill and why, it helps to put lawmakers in the context of how the people in their districts tend to vote and what it means for lawmakers' prospects in the 2018 elections. (Canipe and Yeip, 5/2)
Politico:
Tuesday Group Leader Under Fire Over Health Care Deal
Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur might have singlehandedly saved the Obamacare repeal effort. But rather than being hailed as a hero, the New Jersey lawmaker has come under fire from GOP centrists, who are incensed he negotiated with Freedom Caucus ringleader Mark Meadows. (Bade and Cheney, 5/3)
The New York Times:
Extra Billions For Health Bill? Researchers Say It’s Still Not Enough
Is $8 billion enough to get the House health bill passed? And is it enough to ensure that people with pre-existing medical conditions will still be able to get insurance if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act? The answer to the first question is maybe. On the second, it’s very likely to be no. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Here’s What You Need To Know About Preexisting Conditions In The GOP Health Plan
Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could consider a person’s health status when determining premiums, sometimes making coverage unaffordable or even unavailable if a person was already sick with a problem that required expensive treatment. The ACA prohibited that, in part by requiring everyone to purchase insurance. But that “individual mandate” was unpopular and Republicans would eliminate that requirement in their proposed American Health Care Act. (Kessler, 5/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Jumping Into High-Risk Insurance Pools
The sickest 10% of Americans account for about two-thirds of health-care spending, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The ACA requires almost everyone to have insurance or pay a fine so healthy customers would subsidize sick ones. High-risk pools take a different approach, separating the sickest people into their own pool so premiums for healthy customers would fall. (Hackman, 5/3)
The New York Times:
What Republicans Changed In Their Health Care Bill To Try To Get More Votes
In a scramble to garner enough votes for passage, House Republicans have added more revisions to their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), more than a month after pulling their initial bill from the floor. Here’s a look at how the Republican bill compares with the Affordable Care Act. (Park, Sanger-Katz and Lee, 5/3)
The New York Times:
Jimmy Kimmel Sheds Light On Health Coverage For Infants With Birth Defects
Jimmy Kimmel’s tearful description of his newborn son’s heart defect has galvanized parents across the country. A few shared his experience as a frantic new father; many more gave silent thanks that they had been spared this ordeal. But the talk-show host’s monologue has also focused new attention on how infants with such birth defects were cared for before passage of the Affordable Care Act, and what may lie ahead for them should the legislation be repealed. (Kolata and Goodnough, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
How Health-Care Bill Would Affect You
The Republican proposal to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, which is expected to receive a vote in the House on Thursday, would bring big changes to health-care coverage for many Americans. Here are some of the most important ones. (Armour and Hackman, 5/3)
Politico:
Deep-Pocketed Health Care Lobbies Line Up Against Trump
Just about every major health care group opposes President Donald Trump’s health care overhaul — and the self-styled negotiator-in-chief hasn’t tried cutting a deal with them. The opposition from the deep-pocketed health care industry — and patient advocacy groups from the American Heart Association to the March of Dimes — has made it hard for Republicans to push Obamacare repeal through the House. And they could be a persistent obstacle if the legislation makes it to the Senate. (Cancryn, Karlin-Smith and Demko, 5/3)