Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Policies In GOP Health Bill Leaves Divisions Among Representatives, Many State Officials
After House Republicans suffered a setback Thursday in their bid to overhaul health care, some GOP lawmakers from Illinois refused to commit to future revisions of the GOP plan and expressed skepticism about quick action moving forward. ...While saying Obamacare is in a "death spiral," [Rep. Randy] Hultgren said it's important for House and Senate Republicans "get a replacement that works." He said he could not predict "whether that can happen today or tomorrow or over the weekend or next week" and added: "I really feel like it's unknown right now how this ends." (Skiba, 3/23)
Even in Tom Price鈥檚 home turf, there鈥檚 a sharp divide over the embattled GOP health plan among the Republicans racing to replace him. Several of the top Republicans in the April 18 special election to succeed Price, Donald Trump鈥檚 health secretary, say the plan needs broader changes before they can accept it. Others, including those running as Trump loyalists, say they would vote for it in a flash. (Bluestein, 3/23)
The super PAC overseen by House Speaker Paul Ryan and the House GOP leadership is yanking support from a House Republican who pledged to oppose the health-care legislation pushed by President Donald Trump and House GOP leadership. The Congressional Leadership Fund is pulling staff from and closing an office it opened last month in Iowa Rep. David Young鈥檚 Des Moines-based district. (Epstein, 3/23)
The process got somewhat easier on Thursday when two Republicans, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton of Ennis and Michael McCaul of Austin moved into the affirmative column. The Dallas Morning News reported McCaul's change of heart from undecided to yes. "I don't have a comment other than I am glad Donald Trump got elected president so that we have a chance to bring an end to Obamacare," said the fiercest GOP holdout of the delegation, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler. (Livingston, 3/23)
One local Republican 鈥 Rep. Patrick Meehan, whose district mostly covers Delaware County 鈥 has yet to decide whether he would support his party's long-promised plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. The stance of another local GOP representative, Ryan Costello of Chester County, remains unclear. Like Meehan, Costello supported the bill in committee but has not committed to voting for the final measure. (Tornoe and Babay, 3/23)
Rep. Andy Harris, a Baltimore County Republican and member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said Thursday that last-minute changes to the Republican plan to replace Obamacare are not yet enough to win his support. Harris, who ran his first campaign for Congress on a vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act, joined about three dozen Republicans who announced opposition聽to the legislation. Because of that opposition, GOP聽leaders聽pulled the measure from a scheduled vote Thursday -- dealing a blow to President Donald Trump. (Fritze, 3/23)
Rep. Rodney Davis thought he was about to cast a long-anticipated vote to begin repealing and replacing Obamacare on Thursday. Instead, he took another trip to the White House, part of the extraordinary and sometimes confusing shuttle diplomacy that was going on inside the Republican Party on health care reform this week. Davis, R-Taylorville, and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, are among a small group of Republican vote-counters in the U.S. House on the Republicans' American Health Care Act. They're 鈥渨hips鈥 in the parlance of what is often called legislative sausage making. (Raasch, 3/24)
President Donald Trump and House Republicans are making both threats and promises to try to salvage the GOP health care bill 鈥 but the deal-making is all on the Republican side of the aisle, with Connecticut鈥檚 all-Democratic congressional delegation sitting on the sidelines...聽While Democrats are not sitting at the negotiating table, that doesn鈥檛 mean Connecticut鈥檚 lawmakers were idle. (Radelat, 3/23)
The Republican leaders of the Connecticut House and Senate politely distanced themselves Thursday from the push by President Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan for the immediate passage of an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. In a letter to the president and speaker, Sen. Len Fasano of North Haven and Rep. Themis Klarides of Derby said they shared the national Republican leaders鈥 concerns about Obamacare, but urged Trump and Ryan to avoid passage of a bill still being digested by state officials and members of Congress. (Pazniokas, 3/23)
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens have both signed a letter in support of a controversial bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act. Brownback鈥檚 office released the letter after U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan delayed a vote on the American Health Care Act because of a lack of support for the bill. The letter from eight GOP governors thanks Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for their efforts to repeal the ACA, also known as 鈥淥bamacare.鈥 (Lowry, 3/23)
Gov. Bill Walker says as many as 45,000 Alaskans could lose health care coverage under a Republican bill proposed in the U.S. House. Walker says that includes 30,000 Alaskans covered by the expanded Medicaid program and roughly two-thirds of the Alaskans with individual plans on the federally facilitated insurance marketplace. About 19,000 Alaskans have individual plans. Walker said about 13,000 could lose coverage. (Bohrer, 3/24)
Gov. Baker has estimated the state would lose about $1 billion in federal reimbursement, starting in 2020, should the American Health Care Act pass. On Tuesday, Baker said, "I think our hope and our expectation is that the issues that are raised not just by people here in Massachusetts but by people in other states who have similar concerns can help affect the nature of the debate and the discussion." Today also marks the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. (Bologna, Bruzek and Chakrabarti, 3/23)