Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Republicans Sidestep Negative Aspects Of Report, Focus On The Positive
Many House Republicans avoided specifics of the analysis and instead focused on the overall picture which was "that the American Health Care Act achieves our mission: lowering premiums and lowering the deficit,"聽House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e on a rescue mission, and today鈥檚 CBO report reinforces what聽we鈥檝e said before聽鈥 our聽American Health Care Act聽will lower premiums and reduce the deficit," said House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. "The CBO report doesn鈥檛 tell the whole story when it comes to the benefits of this bill, but we鈥檙e one step closer to keeping our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare." (Collins, 5/24)
Separately, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) acknowledges the party will face attacks over health care聽鈥
Speaker Paul D. Ryan is acutely aware that Republicans will be attacked over the health care bill that his chamber passed a few weeks ago, but the Wisconsin Republican felt that inaction was not an option. 鈥淚鈥檒l accept that we will get hit for this,鈥 Ryan said Wednesday at an Axios鈥 News Shapers event. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e in leadership. We don鈥檛 have a choice. 鈥 What are we supposed to do, just sit back and let this thing collapse?鈥 The speaker has consistently made the case that the 2010 health care law is collapsing and it鈥檚 incumbent upon Republicans to fulfill their campaign promise to repeal and replace it. (McPherson, 5/25)