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 Press Secretary Sean Spicer said White House officials and leaders
in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives were
considering whether to tweak their bill, which faces growing doubts
within party ranks.
"Obviously we're going to make some modifications," House Speaker
Paul Ryan told Fox News, although he said the bill would remain
largely intact.
The nonpartisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimated on Monday
that by 2026, the plan would boost the number of people without
health insurance by 24 million.
Those findings prompted a few Republican defections and made it
tougher for Republican President Donald Trump to sell his first
major piece of legislation. Trump hopes to deliver on a longtime
pledge by his political party to undo former Democratic President
Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement.
Trump spoke by phone on Tuesday with Ryan and with Joseph Swedish,
chief executive of managed care company Anthem Inc. He also has
hosted Republicans at the White House.
"Part of the reason we are engaging with these individuals is to
hear their ideas," Spicer said. "We are obviously in talks with
House leadership about the contents."
The debate comes as voter interest in the issue rises. Healthcare
was a top priority for Americans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll
of 1,747 people in March. Sixteen percent picked healthcare as their
No. 1 issue, compared with 14 percent for the economy and 11 percent
who chose terrorism.
It was the first time healthcare topped the list since the poll
started in 2012. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of
accuracy, of 3 percentage points.
Republicans' plan to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly
known as Obamacare, would repeal a penalty against Americans who do
not buy health insurance and slash spending on the Medicaid program
for the poor and disabled.
It would also revamp tax subsidies that help people buy insurance if
they do not get it from work. The amounts would be based on age, not
income.
Democrats say the Republican plan would hurt the elderly, the poor
and working families but give tax cuts to the rich. Doctors,
hospitals and advocates for patients and senior citizens also have
panned it.
After the CBO report, some House Republicans pulled support.
Representative Leonard Lance of New Jersey, who said the report
"modified the dynamic," said the bill could not pass the Senate.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is from south Florida,
tweeted: "As written the plan leaves too many from my district
uninsured."
Spicer said the CBO struggles to estimate insurance coverage. Before
the 2010 law passed, the office projected more people would buy
individual insurance plans through new online marketplaces than
actually did.
The White House, however, has promoted the CBO's estimate of the
plan's effect on federal deficits. The report said it would cause
deficits to fall by $337 billion between 2017 and 2026.
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CHANGES POSSIBLE
Trump's administration must heal divisions in his party. Moderates,
particularly in the Senate, worry about causing people to lose
coverage, while conservatives do not think the bill goes far enough
in undoing Obamacare.
House leaders have resisted a conservative push to bring a quicker
end to Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid. But they are considering
changes to tax credits to help older, lower-income Americans.
The CBO said that group could see higher premiums because the
Republican plan would let insurers charge older enrollees more than
they can under Obamacare.
Representative Kevin Brady, who heads a tax-writing committee, said
the House was exploring options, but gave no details. John Thune,
the third-ranking Senate Republican, has proposed modifying the
plan's insurance tax credit to help lower-income Americans.
Republican senators had lunch on Capitol Hill with Vice President
Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to
discuss possible changes. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the
bill could be amended in the Republican-controlled Senate.
SHARES FALL
Shares of hospitals and health insurers slipped, partly on worries
the plan would mean fewer insured patients.
Among insurer stocks, UnitedHealth Group Inc closed down 0.7
percent, and Aetna Inc and Humana Inc each dipped 0.5 percent.
“It looks like it's going to be the dismantling of the individual
insurance market, which again means lower revenues,” said Vishnu
Lekraj, an equity analyst at Morningstar.
Hospital shares were also lower. Tenet Healthcare Corp finished down
3.3 percent and HCA Holdings Inc ended down 1.5 percent.
(Additional reporting by Caroline Humer, Alistair Bell, Chris Kahn,
David Morgan, Mike Erman and Natalie Grover; Writing by Emily
Stephenson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
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