Does the GOP have a health care plan? Depends on the day of the week.
SUNDAY: President-elect Trump: "We're going to have insurance for everybody." … "It's very much formulated down to the final strokes."
MONDAY: Trump spokesman Sean Spicer clarifies Trump's comments: "insurance for everybody through marketplace solutions, through bringing costs down, through negotiating with pharmaceutical companies, allowing competition over state lines"
TUESDAY: "Via @mkraju: 3 senior GOP Hill sources working on healthcare legislation say they don't know what Trump meant by ‘insurance for everyone'"
It's almost as if there is no GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act after they repeal it, taking health insurance coverage away from nearly 30 million Americans.
Huffington Post: Trump Hints At Obamacare Replacement That Would Look Nothing Like What Republicans Have In Mind
President-elect Donald Trump says he's putting the finishing touches on his plan to replace Obamacare.
It sounds absolutely terrific, like the best health plan ever!
It also sounds wildly out of step with what Republicans in Congress, or even some of Trump's own advisers, have said they would like to do.
Trump's comments, which he made in an interview with The Washington Post that appeared Sunday, could mean he's gone rogue and decided that, at least on health care policy, he has more in common with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) than House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Or they could mean that, in reaction to public anxiety and recent protests over the possibility of more than 20 million people losing insurance, Trump is already misleading people about what he and his Republicans are planning to do.
Or Trump's statements could mean that he has no idea what he's talking about.
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Whatever Trump is thinking, a reckoning seems inevitable. Republicans have promised repeatedly not just to repeal the health care law but to replace it ? and now even members of their own party, including Trump himself, have stated they should show their replacement plan before voting on repeal.
But once that replacement plan is available, independent experts, including those at the Congressional Budget Office, will be able to measure its effects. And at that point, Republicans will have to defend their plans ? and chances are they'll look very different from the plan Trump is describing right now.
POLITICO: Trump, Price and Hill GOP at odds on Obamacare
Over the weekend, Trump said he wants to substantially expand coverage once Price is confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary — "insurance for everybody" as he put it to the Washington Post. But as a House member and former chairman of the House Budget Committee, the Georgia Republican wrote one of the most conservative visions for health care, although his plan never included universal coverage as a stated goal.
Congressional Republicans are caught in between, racing to repeal Obamacare while receiving mixed signals from the incoming administration about what will replace it. Several key Republicans have already indicated Price's approach won't undergird the legislative process.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) stopped to greet Price warmly late last week, then said in an interview that Price's bills from last Congress aren't indicative of where Republicans are at.
"No. I don't know what it will be. We've got a new element in Donald Trump," said Hatch, the Senate Finance Committee chairman. "We still don't know exactly what they want to do."
GOP lawmakers, including Price, stress they are less concerned about matching Obamacare's coverage gains, which drove the nation's uninsured rate to a historic low of 9 percent. They would rather people have access to affordable insurance only if they want it, hoping to avoid Obamacare's individual mandate.
But Trump indicated that he wants his plan to match Obamacare, if not exceed it, when it comes to expanding health care coverage. One of the chief GOP criticisms of Obamacare is that while it expanded insurance coverage, high deductibles and narrow networks reduced actual access to doctors and hospitals.
Some Republicans expect Price to take a different tack when he takes a post in the executive branch.
"I don't know what his bill said two years ago. My guess is that Tom Price as head of HHS will approach things vastly different than Tom Price who was introducing legislation that was never going to become law, OK?" said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
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A number of Senate Republicans echoed Corkers's statement, saying they do not view Price's plan as the starting point for the GOP. But thus far, Hill Republicans have not echoed Trump's call for all Americans to enjoy access to insurance either.
And in the House Republicans are much more receptive to their colleague's plan. And because Trump selected Price as his HHS secretary, they view his bill as a logical jumping off point.
"Dr. Price was a leader of our better way agenda on health care and helped shape ... much of what the House proposal is," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady. "So I feel like we're heading in the same direction."
Though Republicans said very broad discussions with Price about Obamacare are already underway, those discussions come amid a tug-of-war between the House, Senate and incoming administration over where to start. That discussion was further jolted by Trump's comments that suggested he wanted to eliminate a health system where "if you can't pay for [insurance], you don't get it."
Vox: Donald Trump promises "insurance for everybody." We've seen this con before.
President-elect Donald Trump gave an interview to the Washington Post Sunday, where he described an alternative to Obamacare that sounds pretty terrific. That — or it's a huge con that Trump isn't going to be able to keep covered up for much longer… Trump's promises are far from his previous health care proposals. They're also far from current Republican doctrine on health policy, which emphasizes more out-of-pocket spending (including higher deductibles) to make consumers more price-sensitive when they seek medical care. Having more "skin in the game," the argument goes, will lower health costs for everyone as consumers only go to the doctor when they really need it.
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Maybe Trump has had a 180 on health policy, and will produce something that delivers on his promises. But given what we've seen from him on the subject so far, there is good reason to reserve some skepticism until we actually see his plans written out on paper.
New York Magazine: Trump Promises ‘Insurance for Everybody,' Won't Give Any Specifics
It's been nearly seven years since Republicans came up with the phrase "repeal and replace," and while Congress just began the repeal process, they've never coalesced around a replacement plan. Trump has said surprisingly little about how he wants to overhaul the law he frequently calls a "disaster." Ahead of last week's vote, Senator Bob Corker had to ask the president-elect to "consider tweeting it out very clearly" whether or not he's in favor of repealing and replacing the law simultaneously.
Now Trump has revealed to the Washington Post that he not only has a plan, but it's solved conundrums that have long vexed health-care experts. Trump said his health-care strategy offers "lower numbers, much lower deductibles." And it will be affordable. "There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. That's not going to happen with us," he said.
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So to sum up, Trump's Obamacare replacement is definitely not imaginary, it will allow every American to be "beautifully covered," and presidential Twitter bullying will be key to its implementation. Trump must be confident that all of this will come to pass. If not, why tie himself to the arduous Obamacare reform effort with a memorable promise like "insurance for everybody"?
FOX News: Trump's ObamaCare comments set up showdown with GOP
Trump's comments to the Washington Post put him at odds with the Paul Ryan wing of the GOP, which has been waiting six years to junk Barack Obama's signature program. And the incoming president doesn't seem to care… As for Trump's insistence that no one lose medical insurance, here's the warning shot: "I think we will get approval. I won't tell you how, but we will get approval. You see what's happened in the House in recent weeks." That was an obvious reference to how he strong-armed the House GOP, with a single tweet, into reversing its ill-advised move to gut the congressional ethics office.