HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House is hoping to harness insurance-market woes in some states to help lift the GOP’s health-care measure over the remaining hurdles in Congress, a strategy that reflects President Donald Trump’s own high-stakes approach to deal-making.
With the House GOP health bill now before the Senate, White House aides say their job may become easier as health insurers in the next few weeks make final decisions about where to sell coverage next year and how to price it. Early signals have raised the prospect of no insurers offering coverage in parts of Iowa and Tennessee, and of premium surges in states such as Virginia and Maryland.
Democrats say that Mr. Trump has stoked uncertainty that is to blame for many of the problems. Mr. Trump, for his part, has cited those problems as a reason to pass the GOP bill.
‘Republican Senators will not let the American people down! ObamaCare premiums and deductibles are way up—it was a lie and it is dead!’ Mr. Trump said Sunday [5-7-17] on Twitter. Last week, he noted potential market disruptions in Iowa, writing, ‘It’s time to fix this broken system!’
White House officials say that more bad news coming from states in the coming weeks could help them move the health-care bid across the finish line in the Senate, where statewide issues will come to the fore.”
-Louise Radnofsky and Michael C. Bender, “White House Presses Insurance-Market Woes in Health Fight,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 7, 2017 9:50pm