A deal to gut Obamacare is getting closer to reality, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
“More votes are moving in our direction and these ideas are very helpful,” Spicer said during a press briefing Tuesday.
Spicer’s comments were in response to a question on a statement from House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who said on a local radio show that two options are on the table for an Obamacare repeal deal.
Spicer and Meadows didn’t say when any deal could come together. Meadows suggested that lawmakers could return before the end of the two-week recess that concludes April 25.
Spicer added that the White House is on board with the latest effort, which focuses on which insurance mandates states can opt out of enforcing.
“It is not a question of us signing off,” he said. “We are good with the direction that this is going.”
The Freedom Caucus wants states to be able to opt out of three insurance mandates: cover people with pre-existing conditions, price controls called community ratings and repealing 10 health benefits that must be in every plan.
Centrists are concerned about losing protections for pre-existing conditions, but GOP leaders hoped to partially allay those concerns with a last-minute amendment that set up high-risk pools to cover those patients.
