WH privately supports earlier rollback of Medicaid expansion: report

by Nikita Vladimirov - 03/09/17 9:37 PM ET

President Trump’s administration is privately supporting an earlier rollback of ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion than what is outlined in GOP leadership’s replacement healthcare plan, CNN reported Thursday.

A senior House conservative aide and two senior administration officials told the news source that the White House, while publicly supporting the American Health Care Act, is privately backing a call from conservatives to reverse the expansion before the bill’s 2020 phase-out date.

According to the report, the administration is already urging several House Republican leaders to change the legislation for an earlier rollback.

{mosads}Conservatives in the House and Senate have blasted the ObamaCare replacement plan for not going far enough in undoing the Affordable Care Act, but members of Congress and governors from states that expanded Medicaid under ObamaCare are concerned about people losing health insurance coverage.

A Republican congressional aide told CNN that the move to alter the rollback date would severely diminish the bill’s chances of success in the Senate.

“This could kill the bill in the Senate and make it even more complicated in the House,” the aide said.

A senior administration official told CNN the shift largely stems from a meeting Trump had with Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and House Freedom Caucus leaders Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.).

Under the GOP plan, new Medicaid enrollments under the expansion would be stopped in 2020, and a cap would be placed on federal Medicaid funding to the states.

Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, is pushing for two Medicaid-focused amendments to be added to the plan, one of which would move the Medicaid expansion cut-off date to 2018.

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