Conservatives give fresh prod to Republican leadership on Obamacare repeal | McClatchy Washington Bureau

To the warnings from conservative groups that they need to move faster on dismantling Obamacare, add one more prod, this one from within.

A group of conservative House members Wednesday endorsed a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act in hopes of pressuring the chamber to move faster on a vote to repeal the 2010 law.

“The American people have had it,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “They’re looking for a cure and they’re tired of waiting and frankly, so are we.”

The influential group put its stamp of approval on a measure proposed by Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., which would eliminate the health benefits that insurance plans are required to cover by the Affordable Care Act and would authorize tax credits for individuals and families who contribute to health savings accounts. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has the companion legislation in the Senate.

Members of the caucus voted earlier this week to urge House leaders to bring to the House floor an Obamacare repeal bill that both legislative chambers approved in 2015 but that President Barack Obama vetoed. That legislation would repeal the taxes that fund the health care law, while giving Congress two years to come up with a replacement.

The added pressure from the right comes as lawmakers prepare to head home for a weeklong recess and some have scrapped plans to hold constituent town halls amid a flood of protests from advocates of the health care law.

Some lawmakers are worried about voting without a ready alternative and caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., suggested the proposal would help eliminate what he called an “unnecessary climate of anxiety.”

The Obamacare Replacement Act would eliminate the requirement that most Americans purchase insurance or pay a fine but would still cover people with pre-existing conditions, as long as they maintain “continuous coverage.”

It does not call for allowing children to remain on their parents’ health care plans until age 26, as the Affordable Care Act does. But Meadows said lawmakers thought that insurance companies would be able to provide that coverage for less money.

Conservative groups have expressed worries that momentum to repeal the law is increasingly being lost, raising the possibility that lawmakers will be unable to deliver on a campaign promise they’ve made since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 over Republican objections.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and key Senate leaders, however, have taken a more deliberate approach with House members this week, attending closed-door briefings on various replacement provisions.

Meadows, however, said that although leadership was willing to look at various options, there had not been much agreement.

“I don’t know that it’s brought any more consensus as much as it’s brought a whole lot more questions that need to be answered,” he said.

Still, Ryan insisted Wednesday that the House is “on schedule” for a repeal and replacement vote this spring.

“We really feel that because the law is collapsing there’s an urgent nature,” Ryan told MSNBC.

One major sticking point: Ryan’s own plan calls for refundable tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance, but members of the caucus say it’s too similar to the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.

“The problem I have with refundable tax credits is it’s essentially a subsidy by another name,” said Paul, the Kentucky senator.

Leadership has a delicate balancing act. The Freedom Caucus, which has a membership of more than three dozen lawmakers, has previously clashed with Republican leadership, complaining that it was too willing to cut deals with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats and too swift to quash conservative-driven proposals and views.