WASHINGTON _ A new Republican proposal to beef up funding for coverage in high-risk pools has won two converts to the struggling GOP health care bill. But it's unclear whether the change will cause other moderate Republicans to come aboard as well.
Democrats and health care advocates say the latest revision will do little to improve the overall effect of the faltering legislation as time runs out for a possible vote on the bill this week in the House of Representatives.
A proposed amendment to the American Health Care Act by Republican Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and Billy Long of Missouri would add $8 billion to a proposed $115 billion pot of money that states could use to fund high-risk pools to provide health coverage for people with expensive medical conditions.
The GOP legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act would steer individuals with costly medical conditions who haven't maintained continuous individual coverage into the high-risk pools in order to lower premiums for others.
But a new analysis by the liberal Center for American Progress estimates the new amendment would subsidize care for only 76,000 more people out of millions who have pre-existing medical conditions. The money would fill only 4 percent of the shortfall in funding needed to sustain the pools, according to the analysis.
Following a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Upton and Long announced their support for the Republican legislation, which will incorporate their amendment. Both had previously opposed the legislation.
"This amendment is an important step that dedicates even more funding to reduce premiums or other out-of-pocket costs for these patients and decidedly improves the American Health Care Act," said a statement by Greg Walden, R-Ore., the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman.
But Dr. Andrew W. Gurman, president of the American Medical Association, said the latest amendment wouldn't undo the damage the Republican bill would cause for patients.
"None of the legislative tweaks under consideration changes the serious harm to patients and the health care delivery system" that would occur if the bill passes," Gurman said Wednesday in a statement. He said the proposed changes to the bill "tinker at the edges without remedying" the legislation's fundamental failing: "that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result of this proposal."
Gurman's statement said the "history of high-risk pools demonstrates that Americans with pre-existing conditions will be stuck in second-class health care coverage _ if they are able to obtain coverage at all."
The Republican health care legislation has been widely criticized for weakening consumer protections in Obamacare, slashing funding for Medicaid and leaving 24 million people without health insurance by 2026. It was pulled from the House floor for lack of support only minutes before a scheduled vote in March.
This week, 10 patient advocacy groups, including the American Diabetes Association, the March of Dimes and the American Lung Association, reiterated their opposition to the measure. No patient group, medical organization or hospital group has voiced support for it.
The legislation was languishing until another proposed amendment by Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., revived it. MacArthur's proposal would allow states to escape an ACA requirement that individual insurers cover 10 "essential" health benefits. The amendment also lets states bypass ACA rules that ban individual insurers from charging higher rates to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
But after securing Upton's and Long's new support for the legislation, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon hoping to convert other Republican moderates who were undecided or opposed to it.
Trump has been pushing for a House vote on the health care bill this week before the House begins a two-week recess Thursday. But White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Wednesday wouldn't set a timetable for action.
"The president expects to see a vote when the speaker and the leader and the whip call a vote because they believe they have the votes," Spicer said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in a radio interview Wednesday that GOP leaders were "extremely close" to having enough votes to pass the stalled legislation.
If all Democrats vote against the bill as expected, the legislation would fail if 22 Republicans vote against it. The Associated Press estimated that 21 Republican lawmakers now oppose it.
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who has opposed the bill for two months, said the new amendment had done nothing to sway him.
"It's a bad bill. I think it would be a bad bill, should it pass or fail," he said Wednesday.
Jones said fellow Republicans were "panicky" about showing they had enough votes for passage.
"Anytime you get panicky, you start making little tweaks to make people happy. Then what in the hell do you have when it's all said and done? Nobody knows," Jones said.
He said he had no idea whether the bill was better or worse because the costs had yet to be analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office.
