WASHINGTON — Republicans entertained a fresh White House offer to revise the party's failed health care bill Tuesday as the GOP tried to resuscitate the measure that crashed less than two weeks ago. But the proposal was getting mixed reviews from both conservative and moderate lawmakers.
"We're at the concept stage right now," said House Speaker Paul Ryan. The Wisconsin Republican said he believed his party was moving toward consensus but conceded he didn't know if the House would vote on the measure before beginning a two-week recess later this week.
Vice President Mike Pence, who's been touting the administration's new bid to congressional Republicans, said Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump were optimistic.
"The president and I remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare with health care reform that will work for the American people and work for the American economy," he said.
Pence and two top White House officials made the offer Monday night in a private meeting with members of the House Freedom Caucus, participants said. Opposition from the hard-line group, which has around three dozen conservative Republicans, helped prompt Ryan to withdraw the bill from a March 24 vote.
Under the White House proposal, states could apply for federal waivers from several coverage requirements that President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law imposes on insurers.
These would include waivers from an Affordable Care Act provision that obliges insurers to cover "essential health benefits," including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but would let states reimpose it on their own.
"The biggest change was putting the essential health benefits back in," said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. "That really took some Tuesday Morning group folks to yes from no," he said, using the name of an organization of House GOP moderates.
The White House offer would also let states seek an exemption to the law's requirement that insurers must offer coverage to people with serious diseases. Conservatives have argued that such requirements have the effect of inflating insurance costs.
Freedom Caucus members said they wanted to see the White House offer in writing — expected Tuesday — before deciding whether to accept it. In the meantime, caucus chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., called Monday's session a "good meeting."
One member of that caucus, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said Tuesday he remained opposed to the legislation. He said states should be allowed to unilaterally opt out of Obama's insurance requirements, not seek federal permission to do so.
"It is wrong to require the states to come to Washington, D.C., on bended knee," Brooks said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.