Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Nobody Knew That Health Care Could Be So Complicated,' Trump Tells Governors
President Trump, meeting with the nation鈥檚 governors, conceded Monday that he had not been aware of the complexities of health care policy-making: 鈥淚 have to tell you, it鈥檚 an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.鈥 The president also suggested that the struggle to replace the Affordable Care Act was creating a legislative logjam that could delay other parts of his political agenda. (Pear and Kelly, 2/27)
Trump said at a White House meeting with dozens of governors that he hoped to overhaul the American tax system but that was a "tiny little ant" compared to what he would need to do to remake the so-called Obamacare law. The president's first major meeting with governors comes as Congress prepares to move forward on a repeal and replacement of the health care law, one of Trump's main campaign promises. Governors have raised concerns that the changes could undermine their efforts to expand Medicaid in their states and leave them stuck with a bigger share of the health care tab. (Thomas, 2/27)
Noting the ACA鈥檚 increasing popularity, Mr. Trump said, 鈥淧eople hate it, but now they see that the end is coming, they say, 鈥極h, maybe we love it.鈥 There鈥檚 nothing to love, it鈥檚 a disaster, folks, OK? So you have to remember that.鈥 The comments came at a pivotal moment in Republicans鈥 efforts to undo the ACA after seven years of decrying it as a government takeover of health care. (Radnofsky, Mathews Wilde and Hackman, 2/27)
Governors have been split on what should be done with ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion, which brought health coverage to many even in deep-red states. Trump didn't publicly address that issue Monday morning, but said ObamaCare's repeal and replacement will give states more flexibility "to make the end result really, really good for them." "We have come up with a solution that's really, really good I think. Very good." (Hellmann, 2/27)
President Trump told governors at a meeting at the White House Monday that his administration will put forward its own ObamaCare replacement plan within a few weeks, according to two governors who attended the meeting. The message came in one of聽several聽meetings between the administration,聽lawmakers聽and top state officials as Republicans try to find a path forward on ObamaCare, particularly the law鈥檚 expansion of Medicaid. Several Republican governors and lawmakers from states that accepted the expansion are looking to protect it, creating a thorny issue for the GOP. (Sullivan, 2/27)