WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s negotiating skills were put to the test in his first major legislative battle Wednesday as Congress debated a health care replacement plan that several members of his own party oppose.
Two committees in the House of Representatives began reviewing a sweeping bill that unwinds and replaces the Affordable Care Act, the emblematic health care reforms implemented under Barack Obama.
The plan was crafted by Republican leaders and endorsed by Trump, who campaigned heavily last year on a pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare.
But influential Republicans are hardening against the plan, arguing that it is merely “Obamacare Lite” and too similar to the law that conservatives railed against for years.
Several far-right lawmakers said the Republican plan abandons conservative fiscal principles by maintaining government subsidies of the Affordable Care Act, under the guise of “refundable tax credits” for people to purchase their own health insurance.
“I don’t think the plan they introduced yesterday is going to bring down the cost for working-class and middle-class families,” Republican congressman Jim Jordan, former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told MSNBC. He urged the party leadership to re-introduce the Obamacare repeal bill that passed Congress 15 months ago and was vetoed by Obama.
“Let’s put that same legislation on President Trump’s desk and then work on the replacement model that will actually bring down the cost of insurance.” Trump was scheduled to meet with conservative leaders in the White House later Wednesday to discuss the plan.
The president will be under pressure to lure several conservatives in the House and Senate back into the fold.
His arm-twisting took on a very public tone Tuesday night, when he tweeted to one of the new bill’s chief critics, Republican Senator Rand Paul.
“I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster!”
Like many conservatives, Paul is opposed to the use refundable tax credits, which would range from $2,000 a year for someone under age 30, to $4,000 for someone 60 or older. Families would get a maximum $14,000 in credits.
Democrats on the other hand warn that those credits are on average less than the subsidies built into the premiums under Obamacare. APP