Trump struggles to win over moderate Republicans on healthcare overhaul

[webfact]

Trump struggles to win over moderate Republicans on healthcare overhaul

By Richard Cowan and David Morgan

REUTERS

 

 

Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act outside the Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pressed Republican lawmakers on Tuesday to support a new attempt to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, but struggled to attract party moderates who feared a backlash from voters who could lose insurance benefits.

 

Most Republicans in the conservative House Freedom Caucus faction have gotten on board with the new bill, which Democrats are vowing to oppose. A lobbying battle to influence Republican moderates was under way involving both conservative and liberal political groups.

 

"It's close. We're getting there," said Representative Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, a moderate Republican who brokered the deal with hardline conservatives that revived the healthcare legislation.

 

The stakes are high for Trump, who vowed during his 2016 campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Over the past several weeks, he has repeatedly set deadlines for the House of Representatives to pass a healthcare bill. So far, the Republican-led House has fallen short of securing the necessary votes.

 

Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who heads the House Freedom Caucus that helped block passage of the first healthcare bill, said Republicans were still "a handful of votes away."

 

The current bill would allow states to opt out of Obamacare provisions that force insurers to charge sick and healthy people the same rates. That is seen as a concession to the Freedom Caucus, which has endorsed the new measure.

 

Trump insisted in an interview with CBS News that aired on Sunday that the protections for those with pre-existing conditions would remain.

 

"I think it's time now" for a healthcare vote, the Republican president said at the White House on Tuesday.

 

If a plan passes the House, it is expected to face a tough fight in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrower majority.

 

OPPOSITION

 

Republicans contend that former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature 2010 healthcare law, which allowed some 20 million Americans to gain medical insurance, is too intrusive and expensive.

 

The White House sent Vice President Mike Pence to the Capitol on Tuesday to meet with Republican holdouts on the party's latest effort to pass a healthcare overhaul.

 

Republicans remain divided over key aspects of the healthcare bill, with some lawmakers worrying about a potential spike in the number of people without coverage, or sharp increases in insurance premiums.

 

Representative Daniel Webster, whose central Florida district is home to many retirees, said Pence told him he would try to work out problems caused by proposed Medicaid spending caps that would limit nursing-home beds.

 

"I just think it’s going to cost us a lot in Florida,” Webster said.

 

Another Florida Republican, Thomas Rooney, said confusion over the potential loss of coverage for pre-existing conditions had his constituents scared that "they're going to die because of a vote that we might be taking."

 

Conservative groups such as Club for Growth and Heritage Action started to increase pressure on moderate Republicans who were resisting the bill, such as Representative Billy Long of Missouri.

 

"Billy is using liberal talking points to distort the truth," Club for Growth President David McIntosh said, adding that Long "may want to keep Obamacare."

 

Left-leaning groups including the Center for American Progress were pushing their members to call lawmakers to urge them to oppose the healthcare bill, including via 7,000 medicine bottles delivered to congressional districts. Emily Tisch Sussman, a CAP organizer, said those efforts had generated "tens of thousands" of phone calls.

 

Patient advocacy groups, including the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association, also oppose the reworked bill, while the American Medical Association and others have expressed concerns.

 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu and Lisa Lambert, Ginger Gibson; Writing by David Lawder and Paul Simao; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-05-03

[mtls2005]

Jimmy Kimmel more or less drove a stake through this effort, at least for this second attempt.

[Emster23]

Why all the fuss? Why not implement Trump's plan he had to replace current program with his that would "cover everyone, be cheaper, and better"? What's that? He didn't have one?

 Oh, well Republicans have tried to repeal ACA since it was enacted. Surely in 7 years or so they could have come up with a replacement plan.... What's that? Oh, they didn't? Hmmmm

[Jimbo2014]

Hes a great orange bilious pustule boil on the face of the 21st century.  Everything wrong with the world encapsulated in one intemperate cheezo Voldemort. 

[Jingthing]

The funny thing is that trump could save his presidency by doing a full 180 and pushing universal. Which in his past he was for. But as he recently admitted he doesn't stand by anything.

[sirineou]

Trump give speeches at his rallies and the idiots behind him cheer.  He hears that and he thinks everyone is an idiot . He thinks he can say what ever he wants, and we will all cheer. 

Preexisting conditions must be covered under his new scheme but those with preexisting conditions are placed in a high risk pool and are charged accordingly.. Accordingly determined by the insurance companies.

So how is that different than before   ASCH?  

 

[Dumbastheycome]

Trump  struggles  should  be  sufficient  in  any  mention  of the  farce.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 5/3/2017 at 8:21 PM, Jimbo2014 said:

Hes a great orange bilious pustule boil on the face of the 21st century.  Everything wrong with the world encapsulated in one intemperate cheezo Voldemort. 

Edited May 5, 2017 by thaibeachlovers

[thaibeachlovers]

On 5/3/2017 at 3:34 PM, mtls2005 said:

Jimmy Kimmel more or less drove a stake through this effort, at least for this second attempt.

REALLY!!!!

[thaibeachlovers]

Despite the hopes and prayers of the anti Trumpers, seems it wasn't that much of a struggle.

Go Trump go.

[ilostmypassword]

12 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Despite the hopes and prayers of the anti Trumpers, seems it wasn't that much of a struggle.

Go Trump go.

Are you applauding because it violates virtually all of Trump's promises? Anyway, it's still got the Senate to get through. And the numbers there look worse than they did in the house.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Are you applauding because it violates virtually all of Trump's promises? Anyway, it's still got the Senate to get through. And the numbers there look worse than they did in the house.

No. I'm applauding because all the anti Trumpers said he wouldn't do it and he did.

Personally, I'd like them to have held off till everyone started screaming about the self destructing Obama care, so they couldn't pretend it was a viable system, as they will do for the rest of Trump's terms.

If the Senate stops it that may still happen.

[alanrchase]

No. I'm applauding because all the anti Trumpers said he wouldn't do it and he did.
Personally, I'd like them to have held off till everyone started screaming about the self destructing Obama care, so they couldn't pretend it was a viable system, as they will do for the rest of Trump's terms.
If the Senate stops it that may still happen.

Not sure anyone said he wouldn't do it. Believe people questioned his guarantee of cheaper and better coverage and that everyone would be covered. Seems he lied again.

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

No. I'm applauding because all the anti Trumpers said he wouldn't do it and he did.

Personally, I'd like them to have held off till everyone started screaming about the self destructing Obama care, so they couldn't pretend it was a viable system, as they will do for the rest of Trump's terms.

If the Senate stops it that may still happen.

The main threats to the insurance portion of the program come from uncertainty about what Trump and the Republicans will do. Insurance companies can't plan for the future. So if the system does melt down, the Republicans will still get the blame. And that's only the insurance exchange portion of the program. The Medicaid portion of Obamacare is doing fine. And that's the system that disproportionately benefits Trump supporters - economically struggling whites.

What this Republican bill really is is a massive tax cut for the rich.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, alanrchase said:

 

Not sure anyone said he wouldn't do it. Believe people questioned his guarantee of cheaper and better coverage and that everyone would be covered. Seems he lied again.

 

Not sure anyone said he wouldn't do it

LOL. The headline of this very thread is saying that.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

The main threats to the insurance portion of the program come from uncertainty about what Trump and the Republicans will do. Insurance companies can't plan for the future. So if the system does melt down, the Republicans will still get the blame. And that's only the insurance exchange portion of the program. The Medicaid portion of Obamacare is doing fine. And that's the system that disproportionately benefits Trump supporters - economically struggling whites.

What this Republican bill really is is a massive tax cut for the rich.

Trump would get the blame whatever happened. There is a whole media industry devoted to blaming him for everything. 

[alanrchase]

Not sure anyone said he wouldn't do it
LOL. The headline of this very thread is saying that.

You must be reading a different headline. Alternative headline?

[thaibeachlovers]

14 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

 

You must be reading a different headline. Alternative headline?

 

LOL. Struggling is not saying he will win.

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Trump would get the blame whatever happened. There is a whole media industry devoted to blaming him for everything. 

What a punk way of avoiding the issue. With Trump's support the House passed a bill that massively violates his promises. And the best you can do is to assert that he would get the blame no matter what. So I guess that's your justification for his support of this awful bill?

[Skywalker69]

White House has no answer for 7 million veterans who stand to lose health care

http://shareblue.com/white-house-has-no-answer-for-7-million-veterans-who-stand-to-lose-health-care/#.WQvX4n3VwF6.facebook

[Skywalker69]

Veterans are flooding social media with heartbreaking stories of losing their healthcare

 

http://resistancereport.com/class-war/veterans-preexisting-condition/

[tonray]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Trump would get the blame whatever happened. There is a whole media industry devoted to blaming him for everything. 

He is only guilty of breaking his own promises so far. He has acted in the finest sense just like a used car salesman and lied about everything he said he could/would do. As long as people are OK with being lied to repeatedly then he will be fine, but there will come a day when the old Ronald Reagan question will surface: "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?"  The answer to that will determine his fate.

[alanrchase]

Veterans are flooding social media with heartbreaking stories of losing their healthcare
 
http://resistancereport.com/class-war/veterans-preexisting-condition/

Must be "Fake news". Donald J. Trump supports veterans.

[alanrchase]

Best Trump quote so far, "I stand by nothing".

[ilostmypassword]

21 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

Best Trump quote so far, "I stand by nothing".

But he does stand for self-interest. In fact, not only does he stand for it, he salutes it.

[alanrchase]

But he does stand for self-interest. In fact, not only does he stand for it, he salutes it.

Used to watch Monty Python as a kid. Spicer and Mulvany? were better than any sketch Python did. Dead Parrot? Wall?

[Jimbo2014]

On 05/05/2017 at 3:03 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

That for the environment - or the people with preconsisting conditions or his unpaid contractors 

[alanrchase]

The cockholster in chief.

[Andaman Al]

Why do journalists not play these clips and then let the lying hypocritical scumbags answer.

 

 

[Jingthing]

Something's very rotten in the state of trumpcare --