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The Trump administration’s surprise decision to press for a court-ordered demolition of the Affordable Care Act came after a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Monday, where the president’s acting chief of staff and others convinced him that he could do through the courts what he could not do through Congress: repeal his predecessor’s signature achievement. Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and former South Carolina congressman, had spent years in the House saying that the health law should be repealed, and his handpicked head of the Domestic Policy Council, Joe Grogan, supported the idea of joining a Republican attorneys general lawsuit to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act. (Haberman and Pear, 3/27)

[Mulvaney] pitch came during scheduled “policy time” with Trump on Monday and spanned several meetings throughout the day. It was met with resistance from some on the president’s legal team and his Justice Department, as well as with skepticism from Vice President Pence, who favors overturning President Barack Obama’s namesake health-care law but only if Republicans are ready with an alternative, according to White House officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private talks. But Trump — fresh off a victory lap following the conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation — agreed with Mulvaney and was eager to forge ahead into dismantling his predecessor’s health law. (Dawsey, Parker and Paletta, 3/27)

Buoyed by word that the special counsel didn't find collusion with Russia, President Donald Trump is voicing new interest in policymaking, including a fresh effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare." But Trump has few detailed policy proposals to back up his words, suggesting he's as focused on highlighting issues that appeal to his political base as actually enacting legislation. Trump stressed his desire to revive his failed effort to kill the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, a pivot to health care that both broadens and complicates the administration's agenda. Many in the GOP remain skeptical that Trump can notch many policy wins in the divided Congress. (Lucey, Miller and Mascaro, 3/27)

President Trump is pressuring Republicans to produce a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, a request the GOP considers unrealistic in a divided Congress and politically perilous ahead of the 2020 elections. Hours after meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday, Trump spoke on the phone with a handful of senators, urging them to write a new law — even though the party failed to coalesce around a plan when it controlled the House and Senate for two years. The White House has no proposal in the works, according to administration officials, but Trump wants Republicans to pass a bill before his reelection effort that would do what Obamacare does — provide coverage to millions of Americans. (Bade, Dawsey, Kim and Wagner, 3/27)

Republican lawmakers were caught completely off guard by President Trump’s renewed push to repeal and replace ObamaCare and privately complain it’s a dumb political strategy heading into the 2020 election. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), whose panel has jurisdiction over health care, said he received no heads-up from Trump or the White House that the president would call Tuesday for the GOP to become “the party of health care.”  (Bolton, 3/27)

“We’re going to be involved in health but most of it is going to be very, very bipartisan, unlike the issue you’re bringing up, which would not be very bipartisan,” said Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the leader of the Senate Finance Committee. That could include addressing “surprise” medical bills that hit insured people who end up with an out-of-network doctor even when they’ve chosen an in-network hospital, as well as more steps to address high drug costs and opioids. (Ollstein and Everett, 3/27)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently told President Trump he didn't agree with the administration's effort to have the Affordable Care Act deemed invalid in federal court, according to a source familiar with the conversation. McCarthy discussed with fellow GOP leaders how he voiced his disapproval to the president, the source said. (Brufke, 3/27)

Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), facing a competitive challenge in 2020, said she is “vehemently opposed” to the White House efforts to dismantle the ACA in the courts. “The president is very clear that he understands the importance of health care,” said Ms. Collins, who cast a key vote against the GOP effort to kill the ACA in 2017. “In order to do that, he has to have a detailed plan that is going to be an improvement over the ACA.” (Armour and Peterson, 3/27)

Democrats have so far welcomed a fight over health care. It paid off for them in 2018 -- voter concerns over insurance coverage helped the opposition party reclaim control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections. Many of the Democratic candidates are calling for all Americans to have access to health insurance through Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled. Trump has labeled the idea “socialism.” (Pettypiece, 3/28)

Former White House aide Marc Short said Wednesday that President Trump plans to submit a healthcare plan to Congress "this year." “The president will be putting forward plans this year that we hope to introduce into Congress,” Short, who now serves as Vice President Pence's chief of staff, said on CNN's "The Situation Room." (Rodrigo, 3/27)

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday said he will ask a federal appeals court not to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional. Yost, a Republican, announced in a release that he will file a brief arguing that while the health-care reform law’s controversial individual mandate is unconstitutional, other parts of “Obamacare” can and should remain in place – in particular, rules prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. (Pelzer, 3/27)

President Trump on Wednesday defended his administration’s controversial decision to back a legal effort to strike down the entirety of former President Obama’s signature health care law. The move has rattled congressional Republicans, introducing an issue that Democrats feel they can use in the 2020 election to win back the Senate majority and even expand their House majority. (Fabian, 3/27)

Just a year ago, Mike Braun was an underdog in the Republican primary for an Indiana Senate seat. Now he's a freshman senator, installed on the Senate's key health care committee — and pushing his own package of health reforms. Braun joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to explain his frustration over how Washington regulates the U.S. health system, his criticism of the latest effort to strike down the ACA and why he thinks more Republicans need to make health care a policy priority. (3/28)