February 28, 2017 12:26 PM UTC

No Clear Path on Obamacare Repeal in Advance of Trump Speech

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump is expected to focus on his budget plans when he delivers his first speech to a joint session of Congress tonight, but Congressional Republicans are just as eager to learn more from Trump about a potential roadmap for the repeal/replacement of Obamacare. As Politico writes, Republicans have been perplexed about the White House “strategy” on Obamacare, which became even more muddied after Trump’s meandering statements on Monday:

“Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated,” Trump said Monday morning. He added to the GOP’s nervousness by refreshing the idea that Republicans should maybe just let Obamacare collapse under the weight of rising premiums and volatile exchanges — though he claimed it wasn’t an idea he would pursue.

“Let it be a disaster, because we can blame that on the Dems that are in our room — and we can blame that on the Democrats and President Obama,” Trump told Republican governors. “But we have to do what’s right, because Obamacare is a failed disaster.”

Huddling with insurance CEOs, Trump talked up how fantastic his Obamacare replacement would be without giving details. Separately Monday, he said it would be very difficult to do something good.

Thus far the only consistent theme in any a potential repeal of Obamacare has been the complete lack of a cohesive message from Republicans. There are some reports today that Trump may embrace a House Republican proposal on Obamacare that was first floated late last week…and then there are stories like this one from The Hill:

A day after House conservatives panned a leaked GOP draft ObamaCare replacement plan, a top Republican leader on Tuesday described the proposed legislation as “no longer even a viable draft that we’re working off of.” [Pols emphasis]

Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 3 House Republican and chief vote-counter, told reporters he had just spoken to Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.), who issued a statement Monday saying he could not vote for the leaked draft or recommend his 170 members support it because of its use of refundable tax credits.

Another influential conservative leader, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), came out against the draft plan earlier in the day.

“What [Walker] said was, of the draft he saw — which is no longer even a viable draft that we’re working off of — that he had issues with components of that draft,” said Scalise, himself a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC).

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are apparently set to meet on Wednesday to talk healthcare strategy in a members-only meeting that will include presentations from House Republican leaders. House Speaker Paul Ryan also says that “we are hosed” absent a serious effort at reforming Medicare.

Confusion on how to approach a promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hasn’t been limited to Washington D.C., either; Republican governors are divided on how to approach the issue, with Medicaid funding at the top of the list of concerns. State leaders are also worried that House Republican plans for the ACA could lead to significantly-reduced coverage and increased costs for individual states.

President Trump may very well provide a less-cloudy direction on the ACA when he addresses Congress tonight, but it’s hard to see how he could say anything that might fix the deep divide among Republicans on how to move any direction other than sideways.