Key GOP senator on health care: ‘It’s time to move on’
WASHINGTON — Republican, Democratic and even bipartisan plans for reshaping parts of the Obama health care law are proliferating in Congress. But they have iffy prospects at best, and there were no signs Monday that GOP leaders have chosen a fresh pathway after last week’s collapse of their struggle to repeal and rewrite the statute.
Despite a weekend of tweets from President Donald Trump insisting that the Senate revisit the issue, Republican prospects for garnering 50 votes to push something through the chamber seemed to worsen after Sen. John McCain returned to Arizona for brain cancer treatments.
He was among three GOP senators who joined Democrats in opposing a bare-bones bill rolling back a few pieces of former President Barack Obama’s law, dealing it a stunning 51-49 defeat, and his absence probably denies leaders their best chance of turning that vote around.
“If the question is do I think we should stay on health care until we get it done, I think it’s time to move on to something else,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of the GOP leadership team.
Rather than resuming its health care debate, the Senate began considering a judicial nomination Monday.
In the House, 43 Democratic and Republican moderates proposed a plan that includes continuing federal payments that help insurers contain expenses for lower-earning customers and limiting Obama’s requirement that larger employers offer coverage to workers. But movements by House centrists seldom bear fruit in the House, where the rules give the majority party ironclad control, and Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., offered little encouragement.
“While the speaker appreciates members coming together to promote ideas, he remains focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare,” said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong.
The House approved its health care overhaul in May after barely overcoming its own GOP divisions.
Trump has threatened anew in recent days to cut off the payments to insurers, which total $7 billion this year and are helping trim out-of-pocket costs for 7 million people. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump will decide this week whether to pay them in August, and insurers have cited the monthly uncertainty as a factor in rising premiums.
The president vented his frustration via Twitter on Monday. He said: “If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?”
In fact, most members of Congress get their coverage through the Affordable Care Act like millions of other Americans. The 2010 law was specifically written to include lawmakers, and starting in 2014, members and their staffs had to use federal or state health care exchanges.
Most members who use the coverage buy it off the health care exchange created by the District of Columbia.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said GOP leaders should “follow the example of their members releasing some proposals with Democrats today” and engage in “serious bipartisan conversations,” but she didn’t specifically endorse the bipartisan proposals.
The group was led by Reps. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, DN.J. One proposal would require companies with at least 500 workers to offer coverage, up from the Obama law’s cutoff of 50 workers.
Hoping to find some way forward, Health Secretary Tom Price met with some governors and Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. Among those attending was Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who’s been trying to defend his state’s expansion of Medicaid, the health insurance program for poor people, against proposed GOP cuts.