GOP tries for Obamacare repeal do-over

WASHINGTON - Frustrated with their failure to repeal Obamacare, and wary of facing voters over spring recess, House Republicans are embarking on another push to salvage President Donald Trump's promise to replace the Affordable Care Act.

The White House is leading the effort, and Vice President Mike Pence presented lawmakers options in a flurry of closed-door meetings stretching into late Tuesday. Some Republicans say they want to stay in town to finish the job - a two-week recess starts Friday.

But chances remain slim that Republican leaders can build consensus among the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the more centrist Tuesday Group that doomed the last effort.

'Look, the president would like to see this done,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday.

'I'm not going to raise expectations,” Spicer said. 'But I think that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about (how) to grow that vote.”

The revived effort shows the risks ahead for Trump's party after Republicans promised for years they would undo the health care law once they had control of Congress and the White House, only to botch it.

Trump lashed out in anger at the Freedom Caucus after the failed effort. When he called out leaders by name, the move backfired and others came to their defense. The result was more GOP political infighting.

But now, as Trump approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency without the key legislative win and GOP lawmakers head home for break, they have common cause in searching for a better message - or in at least showing voters they have not given up.

The new proposals are mostly tweaks to the previous bill, which failed to get enough support.

That legislation, the American Health Care Act, would have resulted in as many as 24 million more Americans being without health insurance, largely by clipping federal subsidies to help some Americans buy insurance and scaling back the expansion in some states of Medicaid for lower-income patients.

Even now, nearly two-thirds of Americans said it is a 'good thing” that the bill did not pass. And 75 percent of Americans and a majority of Republicans say Trump and his administration should do what they can to make the current law work, according to new polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Pence is presenting options that the administration hopes could win over more Freedom Caucus members without chasing away those from Tuesday Group.

The vice president met with both flanks late Monday and was back on Capitol Hill for meetings Tuesday, including a large session that spilled into the evening.

'The ideas that were tossed around were not rejected out of hand,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., a Freedom Caucus member.

But details were still being drafted.

Under the proposal from the White House, states would have the option of doing away with requirements in the health care law that insurers provide a minimum level of 10 'essential benefits,” including those for pregnancy care, mental health treatment and other services.

Conservatives want to end those Obamacare regulations because they believe fewer rules will lead to cheaper plans.

States would also be allowed to do away with the 'community rating,” which would allow prices to rise for some patients - effectively gutting Obamacare's guarantee that people could get coverage even if they have pre-existing conditions.

The White House, however, is talking about beefed-up funding for high-risk pools that would offer coverage to sick people who could not get policies on the existing insurance market.

Many states operated such pools before the Affordable Care Act, but they proved inadequate and many were forced to limit enrollment or cap coverage.

Republicans may also revive an earlier idea to continue an Obamacare 0.9 percent payroll tax on high-income earners to produce $15 billion toward ensuring coverage for various patients.

'We're at the concept stages right now,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.