Trumpcare Amendment Wins Support Of Conservative Republicans

WASHINGTON, DC — After a devastating legislative defeat for Republicans in March, the American Health Care Act now has the support of conservative Freedom Caucus that originally played an essential role in the bill's defeat.

"Over the past couple of months, House conservatives have worked tirelessly to improve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to make it better for the American people," the group said in a statement Wednesday. "Due to improvements to the AHCA and the addition of Rep. Tom MacArthur’s proposed amendment, the House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the current proposal."

The amendment allows states to roll back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which Patch has covered before. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

It continues: "The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA. While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs. ”

However, Robert King, a reporter for the Washington Examiner, said that caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, confirmed that only 80 percent of the caucus supports the bill in its new form.

Still, this bodes well for President Trump's efforts to pass health care reform, though even with the Freedom Caucus on board, there are many obstacles to the AHCA's passage. Moderate Republicans in the House may reject the new amendment for the very reason the Freedom Caucus approves of it. But even if the bill passes the house, it will face more challenges in the Senate.

Many Republican senators were doubtful of the AHCA prior to the addition of the McArthur amendment, and the more conservative version of the bill may scare even more off. It also may run into more trouble with the Senate rules, which restrict what kinds of bills can pass without being subject to a Democratic filibuster.

There's also a big public relations issue under the current plan. The current version of the law exempts Congressional representatives and staffers from some of the changes to health insurance plans that citizens will be subjected to — a provision that may be very difficult to explain to constituents.

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