Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ryan Says House Would Vote On Senate's Bill: 'I'll Take Federalism Over Obamacare Any Day'
Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Monday that the House would bring up a health care measure sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy for a vote if it were to pass the Senate. 鈥淚t would be our intention to bring the matter through,鈥 Ryan said at a news conference from a Harley Davidson facility in Wisconsin, where he was promoting GOP plans to overhaul the tax code. ... House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows agreed that the Graham-Cassidy measure is the GOP鈥檚 last shot. (McPherson, 9/18)
鈥淲e hope the Senate does pass Graham-Cassidy. We鈥檙e encouraged by the development of Graham-Cassidy,鈥 Ryan said at a town hall-style event at the Harley-Davidson facility in Menomonee Falls, Wis. 鈥淎nd I am encouraging every senator to vote for Graham-Cassidy, because it is our best, last chance to get repeal and replace done. 鈥淎nd I do believe it is a far greater improvement over the status quo,鈥 the Speaker continued. 鈥淚鈥檒l take [the] federalism of Graham-Cassidy over a collapsing ObamaCare system any day.鈥 (Wong, 9/18)
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows predicted Monday that the House would pass a last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare if it clears the Senate, with conservatives getting on board. The North Carolina Republican said in an interview that while it鈥檚 too early for his group to take a position on the 11th-hour Obamacare replacement bill authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), he is 鈥渧ery optimistic鈥 about its prospects in the House. (Bade, 9/18)
As Senate Republicans work feverishly to try to revive plans to replace parts of the Affordable Care Act ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline, it鈥檚 easy to forget: There鈥檚 another chamber in Congress, and it is not a potted plant. One might assume that the House, which already passed a GOP health-care bill in May, would simply rubber-stamp any Senate bill, high-five, and call it a day, but things are not quite so simple. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed the House 217-to-213, meaning two flipped decisions would have stopped the bill cold. (DeBonis, 9/18)