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 Earlier on Wednesday, Trump took Senate Republicans to task for
failing to agree on how to dismantle Obamacare, as a new report
showed 32 million Americans would lose health insurance if senators
opt to repeal the law without a replacement.
Trump gathered 49 Republican senators for a White House lunch after
a bill to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act collapsed
on Monday amid dissent from a handful of the party's conservatives
and moderates.
After Trump's exhortation to keep trying, party members met with
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price behind closed doors on
Wednesday night to try to finally come together on a major
Republican promise of the past seven years - undoing former
Democratic President Barack Obama's signature legislation, popularly
known as Obamacare.
There was no immediate breakthrough.
"We still have some issues that divide us," said Senator Ted Cruz, a
conservative who has proposed letting insurers offer cheaper
bare-bones plans that do not comply with Obamacare regulations.
Republicans attending the late meeting sent their staff away in
order to talk frankly and Senator John Kennedy said everyone was
negotiating in good faith but he added he did not know if they would
reach agreement.
Almost all the other senators rushed off after the meeting without
comment.
As it was getting underway, the nearly two dozen Republican senators
were shaken by news that their colleague, veteran Senator John
McCain, had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
McCain's absence from the Senate makes the job of passing a
healthcare bill more difficult because leaders need every Republican
vote they can get.
"Obviously, I think more people are worried about his health than
thinking about the math. You understand the math. Obviously it makes
things difficult," Senator Bob Corker said as he left the meeting.
Trump had taken a hands-off approach to the healthcare debate last
week and suggested on Tuesday that he was fine with letting
Obamacare fail. Then on Wednesday he switched course and demanded
senators stay in Washington through their planned August recess
until they find common ground on healthcare.
"We can repeal, but we should repeal and replace, and we shouldn't
leave town until this is complete," Trump said at the meeting.
Trump made the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, which he has
called a "disaster," a central promise of his 2016 campaign.
Even with Trump's new push, Republican leaders in the Senate face a
difficult task getting moderates and conservatives to agree on an
overhaul that can pass.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had planned to hold a
straight repeal vote next week, but several Republican senators have
already said they oppose that approach.
Thirty-two million Americans would lose their health insurance by
2026 if Obamacare is scrapped without an alternative in place, the
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported on Wednesday, while
17 million would become uninsured next year alone.
At the same time, premiums on individual insurance plans would rise
25 percent next year and double by 2026.
The CBO's estimates were unchanged from a previous report that
assessed the impact of a 2015 bill to repeal Obamacare that passed
the House of Representatives and Senate and was vetoed by Obama.
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'TRUE DEATH SPIRAL'
Democrats were swift to highlight the CBO's assessment, while
Republicans remained silent.
"President Trump and Republicans have repeatedly promised to lower
premiums and increase coverage, yet each proposal they offer would
do the opposite," Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said in a
statement.
Insurers and hospitals have lobbied against straight repeal, saying
the limbo would increase uncertainty and their costs.
"CBO projects half the country would have no insurers in the
individual market by 2020 under the new repeal bill. That's a true
death spiral," tweeted Larry Levitt, vice president at the Kaiser
Family Foundation, a healthcare research group.
Republicans say Obamacare is a costly intrusion into the healthcare
system.
But the party is divided between moderates concerned the Senate bill
would eliminate insurance for millions of low-income Americans and
conservatives who want to see even deeper cuts to Obamacare, which
boosted the number of Americans with health insurance by 20 million
through mandates on individuals and employers, and income-based
subsidies.
Moderate Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and
Shelley Moore Capito said they opposed McConnell's plan for a repeal
that would take effect in two years. All three attended the lunch
with Trump.
With Democrats united in opposition to repeal, McConnell can only
lose two votes from the Republicans' 52-48 majority in the 100-seat
Senate to pass healthcare legislation.
Opponents of repeal protested throughout Senate buildings on
Wednesday afternoon, leading to 155 arrests, police said.
Demonstrators returned in the evening to yell as senators arrived
for the meeting.
Party fractures also emerged in the House of Representatives. The
chamber passed a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare in May. But on
Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus, the Republican Party's
conservative wing, filed a petition to vote on a straight repeal.
House Speaker Paul Ryan's spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said: "The
House passed an Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill we are proud of
and we hope the Senate will take similar action."
(Writing by John Whitesides and Lisa Lambert; Additional reporting
by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Heavey;
Editing by Leslie Adler, Peter Cooney and Richard Pullin)
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