Key Republican a ‘no’ on health bill

Upton deals a blow to GOP

WASHINGTON - A respected moderate Republican lawmaker dealt a significant blow Tuesday to the languishing GOP health care bill by saying he opposed it. House leaders sought holdouts’ support in hopes of pushing the measure through the chamber this week, but remained short of votes.

Rep. Fred Upton (RMich.), who until this year chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he was against the legislation. He said it would undermine insurance protections current law gives people with pre-existing illnesses, a view disputed by supporters of the legislation.

The bill is a top priority for President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) since it embodies a longstanding GOP pledge to annul much of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. They’d like to resurrect a revised version of the bill that collapsed in March and send it to the Senate before a weeklong House recess slated to begin this weekend.

Upton’s defection is important because at a moment when every vote counts, opposition by the 16-term House veteran could make it easier for other moderates to vote no. So far, GOP leaders are short of the 216 votes they will need to prevail, and despite White House prodding have said a vote will occur only once they can succeed.

Upton told The Associated Press that the bill’s treatment of people with pre-existing illnesses “does not fit” with comments Trump made in an interview last weekend. The president said, “Preexisting conditions are in the bill.”

“Can there be a fix? Maybe, but it is not part of the equation before us,” Upton said.

Upton pointedly noted that the bill’s language on pre-existing conditions was backed by the House Freedom Caucus, most of whose deeply conservative members now support the legislation.