President Donald Trump’s reported health care plan hit a roadblock this week after House Republicans panned it.
On Sunday, Politico and MS NOW reported that Trump would soon roll out a proposal to address the fast-approaching expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies. If the subsidies expire at the end of the year, health care premiums are expected to spike for millions of Americans and potentially push them off their insurance plans.
The Trump plan reportedly included a two-year extension of the subsidies coupled with new income caps that restrict who qualifies. It would also address conservatives’ concerns by adding a minimum premium payment, Politico reported.
A possible announcement was expected as early as Monday; however, according to MS NOW, it was delayed due to the GOP pushback.
Meanwhile, the White House has attempted to tamp down any perception of discord and suggested that the plans are fluid.
“Until President Trump makes an announcement himself, any reporting about the Administration’s health care positions is mere speculation,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The New York Times.
House Republicans registered their disapproval after news of the Trump proposal was floated last weekend.
“I wasn’t expecting the proposal to be Obamacare-lite. Absolutely not supportive of extending ACA subsidies,” one House Republican anonymously told MS NOW. “I’ve talked to enough [Republicans] to know that people weren’t expecting this and aren’t happy about it.”
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and CBS News, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has warned the White House that there’s little appetite among Republicans for an extension to ACA subsidies. That leaves the GOP scrambling to identify a path forward.
“The White House understands they have to do something on this, as bad as Obamacare is,” an adviser to the White House told CNN. “This feeds into the whole affordability issue.”
Spokespeople for the White House and Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Senate Democrats shut down the government for multiple weeks this fall in a bid to pressure Republicans to support a subsidy extension. A moderate group of Democrats then agreed to end the longest federal government shutdown in history and vote with Republicans to advance a funding bill in the Senate after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) offered a vote in mid-December on the subsidies extension.
The enduring Republican divides raise questions about what a potential resolution would entail. While moderate Republicans are open to a version of Trump’s proposal, many conservatives are reluctant to support the provisions, given their enduring issues with the ACA.
Some Republicans have proposed providing direct payments to ACA enrollees as a way to cover the increased costs; others have urged a larger overhaul of the policy altogether.