House GOP, Trump agree on ACA overhaul
President supports bill’s phasing out of Medicaid expansion
The White House and House GOP leaders have come together behind their plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, including the timeline for phasing out Medicaid expansion.
The White House and House Republican leaders on Friday came together behind their plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, including a provision that has drawn criticism from conservatives who are pressing for a more aggressive attack on the law.
After President Donald Trump met at the White House with the House GOP leaders, his chief spokesman said the president fully supports the bill’s timeline for phasing out the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA, which some on the right would like to accelerate.
Earlier in the day, the House leaders dismissed the idea of speeding up, as they have done for several days.
“Right now the date that’s in the bill is what the president supports,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters, adding: “It’s not a question of negotiation.”
Spicer’s comments also suggested that Trump had reversed himself after meeting with House leaders on Friday; earlier in the week, the president had told several leaders of outside conservative groups that he was open to negotiating the proposal’s details.
If so, Trump’s new stance gives Speaker Paul D. Ryan, RWis., the measure’s top booster, new momentum at the end of a difficult week when many GOP lawmakers questioned whether it could pass in the House.
Trump’s support could change that dynamic next week, when the independent Congressional Budget Office is scheduled to release its estimates of the measure’s cost and impact on insurance coverage.
Conservative members have argued that the American Health Care Act, as the proposal is named, should move up by two years plans to phase out one of Obamacare’s signature features, an expansion of Medicaid as a way to insure more Americans.
On Friday morning, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said at a news conference on Capitol Hill: “I think right now that would be very difficult to do.”
The current bill would phase out expansion by 2020, and the conservatives have to move that date to 2018.
In brief comments to reporters at the start of his meeting with lawmakers, Trump congratulated them for advancing their legislation through two committees this week and voiced optimism about the road ahead.
“This is the time we’re going to get it done,” Trump said. “We’re working together. We have some great results. We have tremendous spirit. And I think it’s something that’s just going to happen very shortly.”
After their meeting with Trump, the House GOP leaders said they were willing to listen to different perspectives, but warned against stalling.
“We’ll continue to listen; we’ll continue to make improvements where we can,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “But there’s no question: This is the bill at the end of the day that will come to the president’s desk.”