While paying little attention to the details of the House Republican effort, Trump has put considerable effort into shoring up the bill, actively courting conservative lawmakers with objections to the bill.
In a trip to Capitol Hill on Tuesday he warned Republicans that failure could have sharp repercussions in next year’s congressional midterm elections.
Trump kept up his efforts to sell the plan, called the American Health Care Act, on Wednesday, meeting with a group of House members at the White House.
Trump declined to say what he would do if the proposed legislation fails in the House. Asked if he would keep pushing the bill, he told reporters: “We’ll see what happens.”
“GET HEALTHCARE DONE”
At rallies this week in Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, meant to drum up support for the bill, Trump spent little time discussing specifics and made clear he saw it as a step on the road in a broader agenda that includes his planned tax cuts.
Obamacare overhauled the U.S. health insurance system and aimed to reduce the numbers of Americans with no health insurance. Twenty million people gained insurance under the law, but Republicans have long targeted it as government overreach because of its mandates on individuals and employers, and they have criticized rising costs of insurance premiums.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 14 million people would lose medical coverage under the Republican plan by next year. It also said that 24 million fewer people would be insured by 2026.
Republicans argued this would not be because 24 million people would be pushed off insurance plans under the proposal. Some would be people dropping out because there would no longer be a penalty for not being covered, said Representative Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the Ways and Means committee.
In a series of radio interviews on Wednesday, Ryan pressed his case that Republicans had to keep their campaign promise to jettison Obamacare and that all factions of the party should unite to deliver the bill.
“We can get it done,” Ryan said on “The Jay Weber Show.”
He said conservatives who oppose the bill need to recognize that the House bill has to be crafted so it can pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer majority, and that they will have opportunities to pursue changes later.
Even if the legislation passes the House, its fate is uncertain in the Senate, where a number of Republicans have spoken out against the House version.
