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The House voted Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration for pushing a federal appeals court to obliterate the Affordable Care Act, and it urged the Justice Department to defend the law in court. The vote, 240-186, was nonbinding, but it documented the House’s support of the health law, which was passed nine years ago without the votes of any Republicans. With the resolution, Democrats sought to put Republicans on the record for failing to come to the defense of the health law’s most popular provisions, such as protecting people with pre-existing medical conditions and mandating coverage for “essential health benefits,” like mental health coverage, prescription drugs, emergency services and maternity care. (Pear, 4/3)

The resolution passed 240 to 186, with eight Republicans joining the chamber’s Democrats in rebuking Trump. One Democrat, Rep. Collin C. Peterson (Minn.), broke ranks and voted against the resolution. With Wednesday’s vote, Democrats were seeking to put Republicans on record as siding with Trump in his attempt to use the courts to overturn the ACA, known as Obamacare, including politically popular provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions and allow individuals to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. (Wagner, 4/3)

The non-binding resolution is one of is one of several steps Democrats are taking to try to link vulnerable Republicans with the administration's controversial legal strategy while touting their own work to shore up the law. The last time the GOP tried to get rid of Obamacare, it cost them control of the House and several state capitols, and Democrats are working to keep the spotlight on the issue going into the 2020 election cycle. (Ollstein, 4/3)

Many Republicans on Capitol Hill were ready to move on Wednesday from pursuing a politically risky health-care overhaul ahead of the 2020 election. But President Trump and the Democrats weren’t quite ready to change the subject. The Democratic-led House on Wednesday passed a resolution criticizing the Trump administration’s actions to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Eight House Republicans, largely from swing districts, defected to support the resolution, which was backed by all but one Democrat. “There’s no backup plan,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.), who voted for the resolution. (Peterson and Armour, 4/3)

Trump’s rare reversal acknowledged dual political realities: One is that House Democrats are extremely unlikely to pass any Republican-backed health care bill. Perhaps more important, health care is a toxic issue for Republicans, who have repeatedly failed to unite behind an Obamacare alternative that would necessarily be hugely complex and filled with difficult compromises. Speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Washington on Tuesday night, Trump acknowledged that Democrats — who hammered Republicans on health care in the 2018 midterm elections — enjoy a political advantage on the issue: "They have healthcare right now," Trump said. "We have to take that away from them." Republican leaders said that the campaign for Trump to roll back his pledge stemmed from unrest in the rank-and-file of the Senate. (Johnson and Everett, 4/2)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: What’s Up With Trump’s Sudden Turnaround On Health Care?

Julie Rovner, the chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News, joined Stephen Henderson on WDET’s “Detroit Today” show Tuesday to talk about the Trump administration’s recent decision calling for a federal appeals court to overturn the Affordable Care Act. The decision created so many concerns among Republican lawmakers that President Donald Trump has stepped back from comments suggesting the GOP would push through its own health plan this year.  Rovner also takes questions from listeners about the uncertain future of health care policies. Listen here for the conversation. (4/3)

The Obamacare wars have ignored what really drives American anxiety about health care: Medical costs are decimating family budgets and turning the U.S. health system into a runaway $3.7 trillion behemoth. Poll after poll shows that cost is the number one issue in health care for American voters, but to a large extent, both parties are still mired in partisan battles over other aspects of Obamacare – most notably how to protect people with pre-existing conditions and how to make insurance more affordable, particularly for people who buy coverage on their own. (Kenen, 4/3)