Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
To Fix Or To Gut? That Is The Question For Senate Republicans
Republicans are paralyzed over what to do about health care, caught between a bipartisan effort to shore up Obamacare and the opportunity to take one last swing at their years-long promise to repeal the law. Leaders of both efforts have less than three weeks to gather enough support to persuade Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to either take another partisan shot at the Affordable Care Act or begin bipartisan reforms. Key procedural powers for the GOP to repeal the law expire on Sept. 30, and insurance companies desperate for certainty have until Sept. 27 to decide whether to participate in Obamacare markets next year. (Everett and Haberkorn, 9/12)
Two Senate bills aimed at shaping the future of the Affordable Care Act are facing uncertainty, as the White House voices tepid support for an ACA repeal effort and opposition to a bipartisan bill to shore up insurance markets. Republican senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Wednesday plan to release the text of a bill letting states largely decide what to do about the 2010 health law known as Obamacare, following the collapse of a Republican bid to undo it. The senators see their proposal as the party鈥檚 last hope to fulfill a pledge to strike much of the law and enact conservative proposals in its place. (Radnofsky and Armour, 9/13)
The White House gave a subtle nudge to a long-shot bill from two Republican senators that would overhaul the 2010 health care law as a Sept. 30 deadline to take up the measure quickly approaches. ... 鈥淲e鈥檝e not had any questions about Sen. Graham and Sen. Cassidy鈥檚 efforts 鈥 about progress they鈥檙e making on an effort to still keep that alive so we can complete that effort before that Sept. 30 window closes,鈥 Marc Short, White House legislative affairs director, told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast Tuesday morning. (Bennett, 9/12)
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) met聽on Tuesday聽afternoon with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to discuss their last-ditch ObamaCare repeal bill.聽Leaving the meeting in McConnell's Capitol office, Cassidy said the leader's聽message was that Graham and Cassidy need to find 50 votes for the bill on their own. (Sullivan, 9/12)
