Trump turns on charm to overturn Obamacare
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump has launched an all-out charm offensive targeting opposition within his own Republican Party as he seeks to secure the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
In a critical early test of his ability to fulfil his campaign promises, Trump plans to head to various states and hold football stadium rallies as he seeks to overhaul President Barack Obama’s signature health care policy.
A bill to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, cleared its first hurdle in Congress when it was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee at 4.17 a.m. following a marathon 18-hour session.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee also sat through the night as Democrats sought to delay passage of the bill with arcane procedural tactics. But the most significant opposition came from the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republican politicians in Congress.
The group says the American Health Care Act, dubbed “Trumpcare,” does not go far enough in dismantling Obamacare. Conservative critics called it Obamacare lite, Obamacare 2.0 and RINOcare, referring to the acronym for “Republican in name only.”
Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, said: “The bill can’t pass the Senate without major changes. Start over.”
Groups backed by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire Republican donors, also savaged it, and some members of the Tea Party movement said they felt “lied to.” Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, called the bill “dead on arrival” and introduced his own rival one in the Senate.
There was unconfirmed speculation that Trump would travel to Kentucky as soon as this weekend as part of his campaign to persuade Paul and other Republican opponents of the plan.
Trump has invited members of the House Freedom Caucus to the White House next week to eat pizza and use its bowling alley. His charm offensive also included having dinner at the White House with Senator Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi, with whom he clashed in the presidential election.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham said Trump was “in a deal-making mode” and being “very charming”.
Obamacare enabled 20 million previously uninsured people to obtain health coverage but the cost of health insurance premiums spiralled.
The replacement would end financial penalties for people who do not have health insurance, reverse most Obamacare taxes, and end the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. It would introduce a system of tax credits instead of the current income-based support, but preserve the Obamacare provision for people with pre-existing conditions to obtain insurance. The plan’s cost remains unknown.