Within the first hours of Donald Trump’s presidency, he signed an act that repeals the Affordable Care Act. Although Trump signed the act, otherwise known as Obamacare, the Congressional GOP doesn’t believe a replacement will be ready soon.
The GOP Senate and House will attend a retreat in Philadelphia starting Jan. 25. Despite the three-day event, GOP lawmakers said they probably will not settle on a complete strategy next week.
Prior to his inauguration, President Trump said the replacement plan will include ‘insurance for everybody.’ Shortly after Jan. 20, GOP officials expressed they anticipate a debate over the policy. Before moving forward, they want to hear directly from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
If the healthcare plan is not replaced within the first year of its repeal, at least 18 million people could lose health insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Trump’s promise that Congress will quickly approve of a new act may go unkempt, as some of his statements conflicted with the plans of his secretary of health and human services nominee. The confirmation meeting for Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the HHS nominee, will be Tuesday.
Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), said Congress doesn’t want to get ahead of President Trump.
“It’s critically important to find out what the president is prepared to do,” Tiberi said. “He has said he’s working on a plan that is going to come out when [Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price] is put in place.”
During next week’s GOP retreat, representatives will discuss the technical aspects of the process. These aspects repeal the ACA and replace certain aspects of it. Another major point of discussion revolves around pointers for relaying the issues to constituents who are anxious about health coverage.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said the retreat presents a good opportunity for GOP members to discuss the process. This includes discussing shared goals, how to achieve them and the timetables for doing so, and new ideas.
“While most of those ideas are fully developed, there are some areas where we still need to find common ground,” he said. “So this will be the perfect opportunity to do that.”
