Trump, GOP Press for Coalition to Pass Health Care Bill

Speaker Paul Ryan and his Republican House leadership introduced a runaway disaster train plan to repeal Obamacare on March 4. Yet it’s not clear that there are enough votes to pass the bill in the House and send it to the Senate, where it will face a fresh set of obstacles.

Representative Mark Meadows, the Freedom Caucus chairman, said the optional work requirement on Medicaid “doesn’t move the ball more than a couple yards on a very long playing field”.

“In Georgia we took a stand and said we weren’t going to expand the Medicaid rolls”, Loudermilk said. “We don’t want to in any way sacrifice coverage for people who need it the most”. And if that happens, I have a suggestion for Republicans looking for ways to salvage their reputations and fulfill their longtime pledge to get rid of the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare. “I can assure you that this bill needs to be changed, not only to pass the House, but certainly to pass the Senate as well”.

“It provides nearly no new flexibility to the states, does not ensure the resources necessary to ensure no one is left out, and shifts significant costs to states”, the governors wrote in a letter sent to Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. But for now the county’s public hospital system, and many others across the state, relies on a federal waiver to help pick up the tab for uncompensated care, one that expires at the end of this year.

Following their message, Nevada Senator Dean Heller, a Republican, announced Friday he would oppose the bill.

He said Ryan is “engaging” and “asks for input”, but added, “I will say there was real concern with the way this [bill] was rolled out”.

The four governors said they support “fundamental reform” of Medicaid, outlining an alternative approach that would give states the option to embrace their own reform or stick with the current formula with less federal money.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate have been pointedly urging their ranks to think about the need to govern, after serving nearly exclusively as an opposition party for eight years under Obama.

“It’s all coming together beautifully”, he said during a joint press conference Friday with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

But members of the hard-line Freedom Caucus, who did not attend the meeting with Trump, remain opposed or doubtful about the legislation.

“I want everyone to know I am 100 percent behind this”, Trump said Friday morning after meeting with members of the Republican Study Committee – remarks that aides in the House shared widely to spotlight progress being made.

The CBO report says that a 21-year-old person earning $26,500 a year would pay $1,700 in annual premiums for coverage under Obamacare compared to $1,450 in annual premiums under the AHCA.

“There is not saber-rattling”.

One House GOP leader, Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, said they were on track to bring the legislation to the House Rules Committee early next week. Rand PaulRand PaulFreedom Caucus leader: Despite changes, healthcare bill doesn’t have the votes Peggy Noonan: Trump should ally with Dems on healthcare Sen.

Now, the big question: What do House Republicans do? It passed through a key House panel on Thursday despite objections by some conservatives who consider it too similar to the 2010 Obamacare law.

It is signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

“They’re important”, Blackburn said.

The first-term congresswoman said she was disappointed that an analysis of the GOP plan by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded older people will pay substantially more for their health insurance than younger Americans.