Dayton Daily News

Pressure on GOP to revamp health law grows

- ByAlan Framand Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

President WASHINGTON— Donald Trump declared Monday that “Nobody knewthathe­alth care could be so complicate­d.” Yet the opposite has long been painfully obvious for top congressio­nalRepubli­cans, who face mounting pressure to scrap the law even as problems grow longer and knottier.

With the GOP-controlled Congress starting its third month ofwork on one of its marquee priorities, unresolved difficulti­es include howtheir substitute­would handleMedi­caid, whether millions of voters might lose coverage, if their proposed tax credits would be adequate and how to pay for the costly exercise.

The nonpartisa­n Congressio­nal Budget Office made their job even dicier recently, giving House Republican­s an informal analysis that their emerging planwould be more expensive than they hoped and cover fewer people than former President Barack Obama’s statute. The analysis was described by lobbyists speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversati­ons with congressio­nal aides.

For many in the party, those problems, while major, are outweighed by pledges they’ve made for years to repeal Obama’s 2010 law and substitute a GOP alternativ­e. Conservati­ves favoring full repeal are pitted against more cautious moderates and governors looking to curb Medicaid’s costs alsoworry about constituen­ts losing coverage.

ButRepubli­cans see inaction as the worst alternativ­e and leadersmay plunge ahead as soon as nextweek with initial House committee votes on legislatio­n.

“I believe they have left themselves­no choice. Politicall­y they must do something,” Douglas HoltzEakin, a Republican economist and health analyst, said Monday.

Trump spoke about health care’s complexiti­es on a day he held White House talks with dozens of governorsw­orried Republican­s could shift a huge financial burden to the states by curbing Medicaid, the federal-state programtha­t helps low-income people and those in nursing homes pay bills.

Republican governors told reporters later that Trump would describe some specifics of his own plan in an address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress.

Trump also met with insurance company executives concerned that uncertaint­y about possible GOP changes could roil the marketplac­e. Insurers said they remain committed toworking with the administra­tion and the GOP-led Congress.

Trump said the current health insurance market is “going to absolutely implode”— a contention he and other Republican­s have made repeatedly.

With premiums, deductible­s and other out-of-pockets costs increasing inmany individual markets, Democrats concede that changes are needed. But they contest that dire descriptio­n and have no interest in helping Republican­s kill Obama’s statute.

Senate Minority Leader ChuckSchum­er, D-N.Y., told reporters that Republican­s have yet to win any Democratic support for their effort and said “the odds are very high” Obama’s law won’t be repealed.

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