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President Trump on Wednesday backed away from his endorsement of a bipartisan Senate proposal to stabilize health insurance markets, throwing the legislative effort into doubt even as the chief architect of the deal predicted that it would become law before the end of the year. The latest actions by the White House confused Republicans on Capitol Hill and irked Democrats — but in the end, their effect was not clear. (Kaplan and Pear, 10/18)

The authors of a bipartisan plan to calm health insurance markets said Wednesday they’ll push the proposal forward, even as President Donald Trump’s stance ricocheted from supportive to disdainful to arm’s-length and the plan’s fate teetered. “If something can happen, that’s fine,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But I won’t do anything to enrich the insurance companies because right now the insurance companies are being enriched. They’ve been enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody has ever seen before.” (Fram, 10/18)

Mr. Trump touched off confusion on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, tweeting he “can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made fortune w/O’Care,” echoing criticism from conservatives that the deal is a bailout for insurers, a characterization the sponsors dispute. ... Mr. Trump’s comments on Wednesday cheered conservatives, troubled some Republicans who support the bill and left many Democratic lawmakers frustrated. Some Capitol Hill aides said they thought Mr. Trump’s remarks might be a negotiating tactic to get more concessions from Democrats, and GOP lawmakers began looking at potential changes that might ultimately get the president’s backing. (Armour and Peterson, 10/18)

President Trump became the subject of an unusual public lobbying campaign over the fate of the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday as Senate Democrats and a key Republican sought to salvage a bipartisan health deal while conservatives pressured the president to disavow the agreement. ... The convoluted campaign, in which Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that a deal remained in reach even as he blasted the president’s “zigging and zagging,” underscored the unpredictable nature of dealmaking in Trump’s Washington. With constantly shifting alliances, the city’s key political players are jockeying to win the president’s support one issue at a time. (Eilperin and Sullivan, 10/18)

Trump swung wildly on whether he'd support the bipartisan Alexander-Murray Obamacare deal. The deal aims to stabilize Obamacare insurance markets by restoring subsidies Trump cut off less than a week ago. Here he is in his own words. (Mihalik, 10/18)

A Senate healthcare deal to extend critical ObamaCare payments to insurers appears all but completely dead just 24 hours after it was announced. President Trump reversed course Wednesday and said he opposed the deal, while Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office said the Senate should keep its focus on repealing and replacing President Obama’s signature law. (Sullivan and Roubein, 10/18)

By then, John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican leader, had told reporters the pact had “stalled” as Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chairman of the Finance Committee, said he opposed the deal. In the House, Speaker Paul Ryan also had signaled his opposition. (Litvan and Wasson, 10/18)

A spokesman for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday indicated Ryan won’t support a bipartisan deal to stabilize the ObamaCare insurance markets as opposition to the proposal mounts. "The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare,” Doug Andres wrote in an emailed statement. (Roubein, 10/18)

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) ripped President Trump's comments on a bipartisan deal to extend key ObamaCare payments to insurers, arguing he doesn't understand the agreement.  "Frankly the president doesn't know what he's talking about in the compromise. ... The president ought to know what he's talking about when he tweets about bills. Because on this one he had no understanding of what it's about," Schumer said from the Senate floor. (Carney, 10/18)

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is floating changes to a bipartisan deal to stabilize insurance markets that would pull the measure to the right. Johnson said he’s discussed the changes with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — the Senate Health Committee chairman who brokered the deal with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) — and Johnson contends they’re crucial to shoring up support for the bill in the House. (Roubein, 10/18)

Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said President Trump called him Wednesday morning expressing optimism about the bipartisan health plan. "He called me to say that, number one, he wanted to be encouraging about the bipartisan agreement that Sen. [Patty] Murray and I announced yesterday," Alexander said at an Axios event Wednesday. (Hellmann, 10/18)

Alexander still expects the legislation to pass by the end of the year. "From my experience here, most of the ideas fail for lack of the idea, and whenever you put a well-formed idea out before this Congress, sooner or later it has a pretty good chance of being adopted," he said. (McIntire, 10/18)

GOP lawmakers acknowledged they’ll eventually have to contend with shaky insurance markets and an estimated $1 billion hole Trump carved into the health care law last week when he eliminated remaining payments due this year. The money to fund a key insurance subsidy program could be resurrected as part of a year-end spending agreement. Even if the deal struck by Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray goes nowhere, Republican sources say it's only a matter of time before Congress must find some way of addressing the reeling insurance markets — a vote the GOP sources know will infuriate lawmakers and their base. (Haberkorn and Bade, 10/18)

Most Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s decision to end Obama-era federal subsidies to insurers that lower costs for low- and middle-income families, a new poll found. Fifty-three percent of respondents to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted Oct. 15 and 16 said they disapproved of the executive move, compared to 31 percent who were in favor. Sixteen percent declined to give an opinion. (Connolly, 10/18)