President Trump’s health secretary on Tuesday applauded a House GOP plan to begin repealing and replacing Obamacare’s federal mandates with set of tax credits and market incentives to get people covered, saying it aligns with the administration’s goal of “rescuing” people from the struggling law.
“These proposals offer patient-centered solutions that will provide all Americans with access to affordable, quality health care, promote innovation, and offer peace of mind for those with preexisting conditions,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a letter to GOP committee chairmen shepherding the effort.
Mr. Price specifically applauded the plan’s use of age-based, refundable tax credits to help people get insured, the expansion of tax-advantaged savings accounts for medical costs and an eventual cap on federal funding to the states for Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor.
Mr. Trump, whose voice will be pivotal moving forward, hailed the bill as “wonderful” on Twitter, but also said it’s now up for negotiation — a general endorsement that did little to swat away vocal opposition from Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, raising doubts about the effort.
“This is not the Obamacare repeal bill we’ve been waiting for. It is a missed opportunity and a step in the wrong direction,” Mr. Lee said.
Those conservatives, backed by well-funded pressure groups, say the plan’s refundable, age-based tax credits create a new entitlement, and that allowing insurers to charge higher premiums on people who failed to maintain coverage is no better than Obamacare’s rule requiring people to get insured or pay Uncle Sam a tax.
“This is Obamacare-lite. It creates a new entitlement through the refundable tax credits. It allows insurance companies to assess a 30 percent penalty on those who don’t keep continuous coverage for 63 days, which is an individual mandate by another name,” said Jason Pye, director public policy and legislative affairs at FreedomWorks.
Heritage Action, the Club for Growth and two groups aligned with the influential Koch brothers — Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Parters — piled on, saying the plan amounts to “Obamacare 2.0” and fails to usher in the conservative, free-market reforms they’d anticipated.
The vocal House Freedom Caucus, a group of about 40 GOP members who frequently spar with leadership, have raised similar concerns.
House GOP leaders are pushing forward anyway, saying it’s time to save Americans from a collapsing insurance market despite a lack of detail on how many people would benefit from their plan or how much it will cost.
Chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce and the tax-writing Ways and Means defended the plan Tuesday as a conservative approach that gained consensus in previous years and would expand choice, while carefully unwinding President Obama’s flawed approach. They plan to mark up their respective bills Wednesday.
“As Republicans, we have a choice: We can act now, or we can keep fiddling around and squander this opportunity to repeal Obamacare and begin a new chapter for the American people,” Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Texas Republican, said.
Mr. Brady said those who see the plan as “Obamacare lite” should instead view it as “Obamacare gone.”
Republican leaders cannot afford to lose more than 21 Republican votes in the House or more than two in the Senate, where they hold a 52-seat majority.
Democrats showed no signs of helping them out. In a series of statements, they blasted Republican leaders for reeling in benefits for the poor and vulnerable while cutting taxes on the health industry and high earners.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said her members should not be forced to vote in Wednesday’s markup without an adequate report, or “score,” from the Congressional Budget Office on its economics effects.
“The American people and members have a right to know the full impact of this legislation before any vote in Committee or before the whole House,” Mrs. Pelosi, who’d been attacked for rushing Obamacare to passage in 2010, said in a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan.
Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden said members would have a CBO score before the bill hits the floor.
In the meantime, he encouraged members to read their bill and decide for themselves how it stacks up against Obamacare, which fell short of enrollment targets and chased some major insurers out of its web-exchanges, after young and healthy people ignored the program. Other insurers raised their rates by double digits.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both touted support from Mr. Price and Mr. Trump, even if therefore work to be done after Republicans leverage fast-track budget rules to get around a Democratic filibuster of their initial plans.
“The legislation the House introduced last night represents the next step along that path. It’s the result of a long conversation with many voices, and it’s supported by the one person who can actually sign a bill into law — the President of the United States,” Mr. McConnell said.
• David Sherfinski contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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