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Two health policy experts with the Heritage Foundation are proposing that Congress repeal Obamacare in 2017, but wait to implement a replacement until the 2019 plan cycle. In a report released Tuesday, Heritage’s Nina Owcharenko and Ed Haislmaier write that the incoming Trump administration and Congress should take steps to stabilize the marketplace in 2018 and pass a replacement plan for 2019. They also back lawmakers passing a fiscal 2017 budget early next year, creating two opportunities for lawmakers to pass reconciliation bills in 2017. (McIntire, 11/22)

A new Heritage Foundation report urges Congress to "initiate repeal" of the Affordable Care Act in January, but wait until 2018 to begin implementing a replacement plan. ... The Heritage authors recommend that Republicans take immediate steps to roll back Obamacare-related regulations and push states to develop alternate insurance reforms. However, they say that it's too late to push through a replacement for the 2018 plan year since insurers will be finalizing 2018 offerings by the spring. (Diamond, 11/22)

[T]he GOP’s crusade to finally destroy Obamacare has the health care industry in an uproar, with strong indications that major insurers could accelerate their departure from the ACA exchanges. At the same time, hospital administrators are in a panic, fearing that they will incur massive financial losses if millions of Americans lose their health care coverage under Obamacare or expanded Medicaid. (Pianin, 11/22)

Anticipation is swirling around a case involving funding for an Illinois ObamaCare co-op as the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to delay a number of similar cases with other insurers. Land of Lincoln’s $73 million lawsuit was an early win for the administration when a federal judge dismissed it last week, and now the DOJ is pushing to hold off on other cases until Land of Lincoln’s appeal is resolved. Republican lawmakers have termed the “risk corridor” funding — designed to help soften the financial blow of insuring sicker members — a “bailout” for insurance companies, and have introduced legislation to block any potential settlements. (Clason, 11/22)

The federal healthcare overhaul could be one of the first casualties of President-Elect Donald Trump, who has joined the Republicans controlling Congress in vowing to dismantle the law. ... Still, Trump’s election has California healthcare advocates on high alert, not to mention the state’s new U.S. senator. California could forfeit billions of federal dollars that support Medi-Cal, the insurance program for poor Californians, and subsidize private insurance purchases. (White, 11/22)