“In the 25 years I served in the United States Congress, Republicans never, ever, one time, agreed on what a healthcare proposal should look like. Not once,”
.. “They’ll fix Obamacare. I shouldn’t call it repeal and replace because that’s not what’s going to happen. They’re basically going to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it.”
‘The closer’? The inside story of how Trump tried — and failed — to make a deal on health care
Shortly after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled the Republican health-care plan on March 6, President Trump sat in the Oval Office and queried his advisers: “Is this really a good bill?”
.. “Is this really a good bill?”
In the end, the answer was no — in part because the president himself seemed to doubt it.
.. The bill itself would have violated a number of Trump’s campaign promises, driving up premiums for millions of citizens and throwing millions more off health insurance — including many of the working-class voters who gravitated to his call to “make America great again.”
.. He did not speak fluently about the bill’s details and focused his pitch in purely transactional terms. And he failed to appreciate the importance of replacing Obamacare to the Republican base
for the president, it was an obstacle to move past to get to taxes, trade and the rest of his agenda.
.. As president, he was selling the rare product on which he refused to emblazon his name — devoting himself to an issue for which he has little real passion.. Alluding to the long-running dramas on Capitol Hill, Trump added, “There are years of problems, great hatred and distrust, and, you know, I came into the middle of it.”.. the president dialed Rep. Joe Barton, a wavering Republican from Texas
.. His senior aides described him as “an extremely good listener” and said his negotiating skills were the product of “total natural talent,” saying he could turn up the heat or the charm as needed.
.. found himself caught in the middle of factional House GOP dramas that have been simmering for years. As one member of the House Freedom Caucus described it: “We’re competing with Ryan. We like Trump.”
.. his thinking was straight from “The Art of the Deal”: If the White House continued to postpone the vote, the holdouts would gain leverage and learn the dangerous lesson that they could challenge Trump and win. Lawmakers wanting to oppose the president would have to do so publicly, in a vote, and face the consequences.
.. news Trump announced in a phone call with The Post, before Ryan even had time to personally brief GOP members.
.. Meadows said his mantra in negotiating with Trump had been, “If this was about personalities, we’d already be at ‘yes.’ He’s charming, and anyone who spends time with him knows that. But this is about policy, and we’re not going to make it about anything else.”
.. For Meadows, a sticking point was essential health-benefit requirements under the current law for insurance companies, such as maternity and newborn care, and substance-abuse treatment, which he wanted removed
.. moderate Republicans, known as the Tuesday Group, stood opposed to the bill
.. described it as “a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit,” with the president boasting about how “great” the bill was and his aides seconding his assessment “like a Greek chorus.”
.. which he likened to an act of betrayal
“In a community-rated environment, giving more choice to healthy individuals means worse coverage for those who are sicker,” said Michael Cannon, an Obamacare opponent from the libertarian Cato Institute, who is sympathetic to the House Freedom Caucus position on regulations. “This proposal shows bad faith,” he said. “The President is being misled by incompetent advisors who will cause the GOP to lose both chambers of Congress if this bill passes.”
The problem comes because the bill would then still leave in place not only the requirement that insurers cover those with pre-existing conditions, but also the restriction against charging more based on health status, a regulation known as community rating.
In such a market, healthy people would have every incentive to purchase the cheapest plans possible, knowing that they could always upgrade to more comprehensive plans if they get sicker.. “In a community-rated environment, giving more choice to healthy individuals means worse coverage for those who are sicker,” said Michael Cannon, an Obamacare opponent from the libertarian Cato Institute, who is sympathetic to the House Freedom Caucus position on regulations.“This proposal shows bad faith,” he said. “The President is being misled by incompetent advisors who will cause the GOP to lose both chambers of Congress if this bill passes.”
Gohmert: GOP Health Care Bill Isn’t What Any of Us Promised
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said the proposed House Republican health care legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare “is not what any of us promised we would do.”
Gohmert said, “It isn’t going to work. We’re told prices will probably go up 75 percent or so, but maybe in the third year, they may come down 10%. We’re told we should be thrilled we’ll give so much more power to the federal government to Health and Human Services under your bill. And they don’t have an answer for what about when it’s a Democrat in charge and not a Republican? And then, we were told it is based on a false premise. They lied to the president. They misrepresented to us.”
He added, “It is not what any of us promised we would do.”