White House proposes revived health care bill

Paul Ryan: Talks in ‘conceptual’ stage; quick vote unlikely.

WASHINGTON — A White House offensive to resurrect the moribund House Republican health care bill got an uneven reception Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives, leaving prospects shaky for the party to salvage one of its leading priorities.

Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials were offering to let states request federal exemptions from insurance coverage requirements imposed by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — a move Republicans believe would cut coverage costs. Top House conservatives and moderates planned to meet with Pence and GOP leaders in hopes of finding common ground, but the odds for success seemed long.

At the White House, Pence said he and President Donald Trump “remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare,” while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wanted an agreement, if possible.

“I’m not going to raise expectations, but I think that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote,” Spicer said.

But there was no evidence that the proposal had won over any of the GOP opponents who forced Trump and party leaders to cancel a March 24 House vote.

“We want to make sure that when we go, we have the votes to pass this bill,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters. He said talks were in “the conceptual stage” and declined to predict a vote before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.

Tuesday, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., his party’s chief vote counter, said talks were not at “a place where there is consensus” and indicated a vote this week was unlikely.

Under the White House proposal, states could apply for a federal waiver from a provision in Obama’s statute obliging insurers to cover “essential health benefits,” including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but let states reimpose it themselves — a provision that is opposed by many moderates.

In addition, the White House would let states seek an exemption to the law’s ban on insurers from charging higher premiums for seriously ill people. Conservatives have argued that such restrictions inflate consumers’ costs.

Reaction from rank-andfile GOP lawmakers was mixed. Moderate Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., each said they remained “no” votes, and Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, was among several moderates warning that a quick vote would be counter-productive.

“If leadership hasn’t learned the lessons of the failures of two weeks ago, then they’ll bring something forward where nobody knows about it and try and get it passed,” Renacci said.

Even so, some members of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative group whose opposition helped sink the Republican bill last month, were showing signs of accepting less than the full repeal many originally wanted.

“It perhaps is as much of a repeal as we can get done,” the group’s leader, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters.

Insurers would be able to raise rates for seriously ill.

GABRIELLA DEMCZUK / THE NEW YORK TIMES House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) speaks during a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. He declined to predict a health care vote before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.