Health Law Supporters Take Page Out Of Opponents’ Playbook By Flooding Meetings
In an echo of the fervent turnout to lawmakers' town hall meetings in 2009, protesters are now showing up to urge Republicans not to overturn the health law. Meanwhile, Modern Healthcare takes a look at how the first "replacement" hearing went, and The Hill explains the health law taxes that could be on the chopping block.
The Associated Press:
House GOP Lawmakers Face Tough Questions On Health Care
Angry constituents confronted Republican lawmakers at separate town halls in California and Florida, fearful of the GOP promise to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law without a comprehensive alternative. In California, Rep. Tom McClintock faced tough questions on Saturday about health care and President Donald Trump’s agenda and had to be escorted by police after his hour-long event. Protesters followed him, shouting “Shame on you!” In an equally conservative district in Florida, Rep. Gus Bilirakis answered questions from frustrated town hall attendees who worried about the loss of insurance and higher premiums if the law is repealed. (2/5)
Politico:
Republicans Face Anger Over Obamacare Repeal During Town Halls
In Pinellas County, Fla., Gus Bilirakis, who represents a district Trump won, was on the defensive as voters packed a town hall on Obamacare. For more than two hours, Bilirakis listened to stories from his constituents — young, old, black and white — who implored him to not repeal the federal health care law without having a replacement ready. “To take away the Affordable Care Act is taking away my freedom and justice,” said Evan Thornton, a 21-year-old St. (Colliver, 2/4)
Modern Healthcare:
Panel's Partisan Sniping Foreshadows ACA Replacement Hurdles
Trust. It's the missing ingredient in congressional efforts to stabilize the individual insurance market as Republicans move to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. That was clear during a House committee hearing last week on four GOP bills to address various problems insurers say are forcing them to consider leaving the individual market in 2018. A mass exit would jeopardize coverage for the nearly 20 million Americans who have individual policies. ... The four bills discussed reflect the GOP strategy of replacing Obamacare through a number of separate measures rather than one large bill. Republicans hope some of these individual pieces could draw support from Democrats, who want to make the ACA markets work. ... But Democrats say before they consider these measures they want to make sure Republicans truly want to fix the ACA's problems. “They need to prove their sincerity,” said Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina. (Meyer, 2/4)
Morning Consult:
Rep. Jordan: Obamacare Not Worth Repairing
A top conservative House Republican called for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and said Republicans should focus their work on a replacement plan rather than trying to repair a flawed law. “Repair by definition implies that there’s something worth fixing. I would argue Obamacare is so bad you’ve got to get rid of every single bit of it,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox News. (McIntire, 2/3)
The Hill:
GOP Rep: ObamaCare Can’t Be ‘Repaired’
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is pushing back on Republicans shifting on ObamaCare from "repeal and replace" to "repair," saying the massive healthcare law cannot be saved. " 'Repair' by definition implies there’s something worth fixing,” Jordan said Friday on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom." "I would argue that ObamaCare is so bad you’ve got to get rid of every single bit of it. Every tax, every regulation, every mandate. (Hensch, 2/3)
The Hill:
GOP Faces Big Decision On ObamaCare Taxes
Congressional Republicans are facing their first big decision on taxes under President Trump: Which ones to scrap in the repeal of ObamaCare. Republicans have in the past sought to erase most of the big tax hikes in the healthcare law, and the chairmen of the tax-writing committees have expressed support for eliminating the taxes in a repeal bill. (Jagoda, 2/5)
Kaiser Health News:
A Guide To Budget Reconciliation: The Byzantine Rules For Disassembling The Health Law
After capturing the White House, Republicans put repealing the health law at the top of their to-do list. But since they can’t get around a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, they are forced to use an arcane legislative tool called budget reconciliation to disassemble parts of the law. KHN’s Julie Rovner and Francis Ying explain the process. (2/6)
