Overnight Healthcare: Trump to pressure GOP senators on healthcare at White House

President Trump plans to host a group of Republican senators at the White House on Monday night as he seeks to persuade them to back the Senate’s new healthcare bill. 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced the meeting but declined to provide a list of senators expected to attend. 

Senate leaders face a tough task in generating momentum for their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hoped to vote on advancing the bill this week but delayed those plans after learning Sen. John McCain would be out this week to recover from a surgery.

Read more here.

 

Trump: We need McCain’s vote

President Trump took a moment during Monday remarks to wish Sen. John McCain well as the Arizona Republican recovers from surgery to remove a blood clot above his eye.

“I can tell you, we hope John McCain gets better very soon because we miss him,” Trump said during his “Made in America Product Showcase” event at the White House.

{mosads}

“He’s a crusty voice in Washington, plus we need his vote.”

Trump brought up McCain as he spoke about the GOP’s attempts to repeal and replace ObamaCare.  

McCain’s absence leaves Republicans unlikely to get the votes needed to advance the healthcare bill, which was already facing an uncertain future and has no room for error. 

Read more here.

 

GOP senator questions McConnell over Medicaid comments

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is hedging over whether he’ll back the Senate’s new ObamaCare replacement bill.

Johnson initially indicated he could back the measure, but told a local newspaper that he’s now not so sure because of comments by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggesting some Medicaid cuts in the bill may not happen.

“I am concerned about Leader [Mitch] McConnell’s comments to apparently some of my Republican colleagues — ‘Don’t worry about some of the Medicaid reforms, those are scheduled so far in the future they’ll never take effect,'” Johnson told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in remarks that were first published on Friday.

The Senate GOP bill dramatically reforms and scales back Medicaid funding — a move that is drawing pushback from several key swing votes. But, according to The Washington Post, McConnell is privately telling undecided moderates that some of the deepest cuts to the program will never happen. 

Johnson said he had to “confirm” the comments, but if true, they would mark a “pretty significant breach of trust” with conservatives.

Read more here.

 

Senate Dems push for public hearings during delay

Senate Democrats are doubling down on their push for Republicans to hold public hearings on their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare after a surprise setback stalled the legislation. 

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) on Monday suggested a list of outside groups that could be invited to testify. 

“Given your decision to delay the vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act, we request that you use this additional time to hold public hearings … on the policies in the bill, especially the radically conservative Cruz/Lee proposal released to the public only five days ago,” they wrote.

Read more here.

 

Groups launch ‘people’s filibuster’ against GOP bill

More than a dozen groups opposing the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill will hold a “people’s filibuster” for two days on the lawn of the Capitol.

Activists and Democratic lawmakers will speak out against the ObamaCare repeal bill Monday and Tuesday and possibly later in the week.

The effort is organized by Planned Parenthood, which stands to lose federal funding for a year under the bill, along with MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and other groups.

“We are here to tell Senate leadership that we will not stand for attacks on women’s health,” Planned Parenthood National Organizing Director Kelley Robinson said in a statement Monday.

“Planned Parenthood supporters will not rest, will not stop organizing, and will not stop speaking out against the worst bill for women’s health until the Senate votes no on TrumpCare.”

Read more here.

 

Poll: Half prefer ObamaCare over GOP bill 

Twice as many Americans prefer ObamaCare over the GOP’s healthcare bill, a new poll released Monday finds. 

The Washington Post/ABC News poll shows 50 percent prefer ObamaCare, while 24 percent prefer the GOP’s plan. Thirteen percent like neither. 

Only 59 percent of Republicans support their party’s proposal, the poll found, while 11 percent support ObamaCare. The other 30 percent say they have no preference. 

Read more here.

 

NY attorney general threatens suit over ObamaCare repeal 

New York’s attorney general is threatening to sue the federal government if President Trump signs a bill repealing parts of ObamaCare.

Eric Schneiderman (D) said his office has found “multiple constitutional defects” within the House and Senate repeal bills, including a provision that would defund Planned Parenthood for one year and another that would shift Medicaid costs from counties to the state in New York.

Read more here.

 

What we’re reading 

Lost mothers – An estimated 700 to 900 women died from pregnancy related causes in 2016 (Propublica)

Mike Pence’s two misleading Medicaid claims (CNN) 

In clash over health bill, a growing fear of ‘junk insurance’ (New York Times)

 

State by state

In healthcare debate, Toomey makes familiar push for Medicaid overhaul (mcall.com)

In Massachusetts, proposed Medicaid cuts put kids’ healthcare at risk (NPR)

Montana faces double quandary over Medicaid expansion (The Washington Post)