Trump Threatens to Withhold Payments to Insurers to Press Democrats on Health Bill
‘Democrats will start calling me’ if turmoil hits insurance markets, President Donald Trump tells The Wall Street Journal
In suggesting that he isn’t willing to proceed with changes to the tax code until health care was addressed, Mr. Trump sent a strong signal to members of his own party.. He didn’t rule out the possibility of a tax bill passing before the congressional recess in August, though many White House officials and lawmakers believe that timeline is unrealistic... Mr. Trump said he had mixed feelings about creating turmoil in the insurance markets… A federal judge in 2016 ruled the government payments were improper but let them continue while Mr. Obama’s administration pursued an appeal. After Mr. Trump’s election, Republicans requested and received an initial delay in the case.
.. “Obamacare is dead next month if it doesn’t get that money,” Mr. Trump said. “I haven’t made my viewpoint clear yet. I don’t want people to get hurt….What I think should happen and will happen is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”
.. House Speaker, Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) has said he would prefer to see the administration continue to fund the payments.
.. Mr. Trump said Mr. Schumer “should be calling me and begging me to help him save Obamacare, along with Nancy Pelosi.”
.. Mr. Schumer said the president was “threatening to hold hostage health care for millions of Americans…to achieve a political goal of repeal that would take health care away from millions more. This cynical strategy will fail.”