House Republicans consider adding risk-sharing program to health care bill
After an unscheduled Wednesday night meeting between Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Pence, House Republicans will work Thursday in committee to change part of their health care bill that would repeal and replace Obamacare. Ryan spoke about their efforts Thursday morning, saying that Republicans “have made some real progress this week.”
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“We have come together on a new amendment,” Ryan said, that “brings us closer to the final agreement we all want to achieve.” He went on to say that the amendment, which would create a new risk-sharing program, has been “embraced by a broad spectrum of our conference.”
The amendment was written by Reps. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., and David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and the Rules Committee is meeting Thursday to mark up language that would be added to the current GOP health care bill.
“It gets us closer to the bottom-up collaborative effort” we have been looking for, Ryan also said.
This is the first formal effort to change the bill since it was pulled more than a week ago. Conservatives and moderates have been meeting all week to find compromise before leaving for a two-week recess. Also of note -- Palmer and Schweikert are members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. This does not guarantee overall agreement on the bill. It only means they will work to modify the bill in the Rules Committee.
CBS News’ Catherine Reynolds contributed to this story