July 19, 2017

A new Fox News poll finds 74% of Americans want GOP lawmakers to reach out to Democrats and try to find a compromise on a new health care bill. That includes 86% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans.

The CBO estimates that the GOP repeal-only health care bill would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 17 million in 2018, compared with the number under current law.

That number would increase to 27 million in 2020, after the elimination of Medicaid expansion and the elimination of marketplace subsidies, and then to 32 million in 2026.

In addition, average premiums in the nongroup market would increase by roughly 25% in 2018. The increase would reach about 50% in 2020, and premiums would about double by 2026.

Politico: “Leaders of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday evening will jump-start a process intended to force the measure — a mirror of the 2015 repeal proposal that President Obama vetoed — to the floor as early as September.”

“Their effort is unlikely to result in a bill landing on Donald Trump’s desk — many Republicans have rejected calls to eliminate the core of Obamacare without having a comprehensive replacement plan ready. But if the group garners enough signatures to trigger the floor vote, it would force many mainstream and moderate Republican lawmakers into the uncomfortable position of rejecting a repeal measure they backed just two years ago.”

“I don’t think there are 40 votes to repeal and say to the American people, ‘Well, trust us to come up with something in the next couple of years.’ I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

— Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), quoted by CNN., on the proposed “clean” repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Caitlin Owens: “It’s up in the air what Senate Republicans will vote on next week, following their meeting with President Trump on Wednesday. The goal seems to be to get something passed, regardless of whether it just repeals parts of the Affordable Care Act or tries to replace them.”

“It can’t be overstated how wild it is that Senate Republicans are planning to vote on a massive restructuring of the health insurance system next week, without knowing what it will look like. And though passage of anything seems unlikely, if they do manage to pass a replacement bill, it’ll be a patchwork of last-minute compromises on top of a bill that is already massively unpopular and hasn’t been thoroughly analyzed. And Republicans will then own whatever happens under their bill.”

Axios: “All of the Republican senators who oppose the Senate health care bill are meeting tonight to work out their differences — after being told by President Trump this afternoon that they need to work late into the night to get a deal. The holdouts, including moderates and conservatives, are scheduled to meet in Sen. John Barrasso’s office at 7:30 pm Eastern with the goal of getting a deal to revive the shelved Affordable Care Act repeal and replacement bill.”

However, one senior GOP aide dismissed the chances for actual progress: “This is just the death rattle.”