Speaker Paul Ryan was clear his bill needs tweaking if it is to pass
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) says he will seek changes to a divisive GOP health care bill to provide more help to older people hard hit by the plan.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis last week concluded that older people would likely pay higher premiums under the proposal to repeal and replace Barack Obama’s health care law.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Ryan says he believes the CBO analysis is not accurate but agreed that people in their 50s and 60s experience higher health care costs.
The Wisconsin Republican says “we believe we should offer more assistance than what the bill currently does” and that it’s one of several possible revisions to help round up enough House votes for the bill.
A House vote on the plan is scheduled for Thursday.
Meanwhile, there was an all-out war on the Sunday political talk shows over the Republican health care bill.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he does not believe proposed Republican healthcare legislation will pass through Congress.
“I don’t believe so. I think there’s enough conservatives that do not want ‘ObamaCare lite,’ ” Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Paul during the interview stressed a clean repeal of ObamaCare.
“None of us ran on this plan. We ran on repealing ObamaCare because it doesn’t work,” Paul told ABC’s “This Week.”
Another major conservative voice that is not happy with Speaker Ryan’s plan was on CNN.
Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said Sunday the Republican healthcare proposal will not pass Congress “without improvements.”
DeMint, a former Republican senator from South Carolina, told CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper that President Trump is open to improvements.
“He’s very engaged and very open to improve the bill, but he’s very supportive of the idea of getting this repeal through,” DeMint said.
