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Prepare for the Obamacare cliff. Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the law in early 2017 — but delay the effective date for that repeal for as long as three years. (Bade and Everett, 12/1)

President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans promised during the campaign to quickly repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health-care law if they controlled Washington. Now GOP lawmakers are predicting it could take years to fulfill that pledge. Republican leaders in the House and Senate on Tuesday began emphasizing that even if Congress moves quickly on a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, it will take time to ease people out of its programs and replace it with their long-promised alternative. (Snell, 11/30)

Republicans on Capitol Hill are grappling with the likelihood that they will need Democratic support to pass parts of any plan replacing the Affordable Care Act, setting up a complex legislative battle over the law’s future. President-elect Donald Trump is expected in his first days in office to take executive action voiding parts of the health law that the administration has discretion to change. Soon after that, lawmakers likely would start on their efforts to repeal and replace the law. (Armour, Peterson and Radnofsky, 11/30)

Joint replacements. Cardiac care. Chemotherapy. What do those things have to do with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act? Economists and policymakers think the U.S. may be overpaying for such services, which helps drive up health care expenses for everyone. And the health law has a program that includes testing new ways to pay for care — including in those three areas — that might result in better quality and lower costs. (Appleby, 12/1)