House GOP Group Offers Its Obamacare Replacement Plan, But Intraparty Divisions Persist
The Republican Study Group plan would repeal the existing health law and replace its subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans with tax breaks, among other changes. However, GOP lawmakers are divided about how to proceed if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law's subsidies, which are a target of the pending challenge in King V. Burwell.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
House GOP Group Unveils Plan For Replacing Obamacare
The Republican Study Committee unveiled its blueprint for overhauling U.S. health-care if the Supreme Court cripples the federal health law in a decision expected later this month. The official plan from the group of 170 House conservatives would repeal the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act starting Jan. 1, 2016. It would then replace the ACA’s centerpiece tax credits to help low and modest income people pay premiums and its requirements that insurers sell coverage to everyone regardless of their medical history with tax deductions and new insurance plans for people with pre-existing conditions. (Radnofsky, 6/4)
The Associated Press:
House Conservatives Offer Plan To Replace Obama's Health Law
House conservatives offered their plan Thursday for repealing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and replacing it with tax breaks and other changes. But they're divided over whether to replace that law's subsidies for lower-earning people should the Supreme Court annul them this month, underscoring potential problems ahead for the GOP. (6/4)
The Fiscal Times:
The Latest GOP Plan To Kill Obamacare
House Republicans today threw yet another proposal onto the growing stack of plans aimed at repealing and replacing the president’s healthcare law once and for all. Just days after the Obama administration announced that some 10 million people had purchased coverage on healthcare exchanges this year, the House Republican Study Committee unveiled its plan to completely gut Obamacare and replace it with its own alternative. (Ehley, 6/4)
CQ Healthbeat:
House Conservatives Rework Obamacare Replacement Plan
House conservatives unveiled their latest blueprint to replace the 2010 health care law as a Supreme Court decision that could gut the law's insurance subsidies looms. Members of the Republican Study Committee introduced legislation Thursday that would entirely repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement beginning next year and replace the law’s tax credits to help people pay premiums with tax deductions for purchasing insurance. (Zanona, 6/4)
The Houston Chronicle:
Obama Snubs Cruz On Obamacare Hearing
The Obama administration snubbed Texas Republican Ted Cruz Thursday in his effort to force them to testify in the Senate about federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Cruz, chairman of a Judiciary subcommittee on government oversight, invited three members of the Treasury Department to testify under oath, but was told that the administration had no plans to send any of its members. (Reiley, 6/4)
In other Capitol Hill action, a revised mental health bill is reintroduced -
Politico Pro:
Murphy Revives — And Softens — Mental Health Bill
Rep. Tim Murphy has softened his mental health bill that was meant to be a bipartisan response to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., in 2012 but was stymied in Congress by a handful of highly controversial provisions. Murphy reintroduced the revised bill on Thursday, and said in an interview he was optimistic it could move forward. But it wasn’t immediately clear that his changes went far enough to bring significant bipartisan support. (Villacorta, 6/4)