President Trump claimed Senate Republicans nearly have the votes to repeal Obamacare on Thursday, endorsing the idea of a short-term compromise that could stabilize the healthcare system until lawmakers move to end the Affordable Care Act.
“We will probably like a short-term solution until we get the block grants,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Earlier this week, Trump expressed opposition to a compromise measure proposed by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., because he said it padded the pockets of health insurance companies.
“What I did say, though, is I don’t want the insurance companies making any more money than they have to,” Trump said of the Alexander-Murray plan.
Trump had signaled he could be open to supporting a bipartisan healthcare compromise earlier in the week, but he criticized the Alexander-Murray proposal in part because it offered to extend the cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments to insurance companies that his administration has already moved to end.
“I think we have the votes or we’re certainly within one vote,” Trump said of repealing Obamacare. “Votes are very fragile … I thought we had it the last time.”
The president noted he still backs the concept of the healthcare reform package that failed narrowly this summer. That bill would have given states Medicaid funding in the form of block grants.
“The concept of blocking it out, block grants to the states, that’s what people want, and that’s what the states want,” Trump said.
