House GOP `Struggling to Get to Yes' on ACA Budget Bill

Other undecided Republicans “are so close to yes that I’m very optimistic whether the vote is tomorrow or Saturday or next week, the votes will be there to actually pass this,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Thursday on Bloomberg TV. He said later Thursday that they don’t yet have enough votes to pass the bill.

The most recent changes to the bill have won the formal backing of the conservative Freedom Caucus, but some moderates remain opposed. A Bloomberg News count shows at least 16 Republicans opposed to the revised measure. The GOP can only afford to lose 22 votes from its side and still guarantee passage.

The Congressional Budget Office has also told Democrats that it won’t have an updated estimate of the cost of the revised measure or how it would affect insurance coverage this week or next week, according to a tweet from Drew Hammill, deputy chief of staff for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and AARP, the lobbying group for senior citizens, said they oppose the revised Obamacare measure.

“The proposed change would still result in millions of Americans losing their health care coverage and could make coverage unaffordable for people with pre-existing conditions,” the AMA said in a statement.

The hospital group said allowing states to get waivers from a requirement that insurers cover so-called essential health benefits “could leave patients without access to critical health services and increase out-of-pocket spending.”

State ‘Flexibility’

MacArthur, who defines himself as a centrist, disputed criticism that his amendment would be a setback on coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

“What my amendment does, first and foremost, is it protects people with pre-existing conditions, while at the same time giving states some flexibility so that they can bring costs down,” he said.

MacArthur brushed off criticisms from fellow moderates that his amendment is designed to draw conservative support at the expense of centrists’ concerns. Dent, the senior leader of a bloc of House centrists, said Wednesday the amendment is “an exercise in blame-shifting” onto moderates, should the bill fail.

“I don’t think in those terms, at all,” said MacArthur. “We either win together, or we all lose.”

Ryan also said that Republicans need to deliver on their seven years of promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“I think people’s seats are at risk if we don’t do what we said we’d do,” he said when asked about political risk to moderates voting for the bill. “If you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics” that’s a bigger risk to losing an election, Ryan said.

—With assistance from Greg Sullivan, Arit John and Sahil Kapur.

— Read White House Still Pressing to Hold ACA Change Vote This Week on ThinkAdvisor.