{"id":16004,"date":"2025-11-24T23:48:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trumps-health-care-plan-in-flux-amid-gop-backlash\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:48:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:48:25","slug":"trumps-health-care-plan-in-flux-amid-gop-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trumps-health-care-plan-in-flux-amid-gop-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s health care plan in flux amid GOP backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump\u2019s health care plan<\/a> is in limbo after pushback from Republicans who were caught off guard by the president\u2019s forthcoming proposal \u2014 questioning, in particular, whether it would include additional abortion restrictions.<\/p>\n

Trump had been expected to unveil a new policy framework Monday afternoon, said two people familiar with the plan and granted anonymity to describe deliberations around it. That framework was expected to center around a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies with income caps and other new limits backed by conservatives.<\/p>\n

But while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump remained focused on \u201cunveiling a health care proposal,\u201d she declined to get into specifics about subsidy extensions or a timeline for the rollout: \u201cI\u2019ll let the president speak for himself.”<\/p>\n

A White House official separately noted Trump\u2019s daily schedule never listed plans for a Monday rollout.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty around the timing of the announcement comes as Hill Republicans remain sharply divided over whether to extend the enhanced tax credits to prevent premiums from skyrocketing next year or to let them expire at the end of the year and coalesce around an alternative approach to keep health care costs down.<\/p>\n

One House Republican granted anonymity to speak freely said in an interview Monday they needed to see \u201cwhat structural changes\u201d Trump might float, adding that GOP lawmakers should demand \u201creforms \u2026 in exchange for extending the subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to three additional people granted anonymity to share details of the plan ahead of its release, Trump was preparing to place new income caps on individuals receiving the subsidies and require minimum premium payments for Obamacare enrollees. He also was expected to propose an option for enrollees to receive part of their tax credit in a tax-advantaged savings account if they downgrade to a lower-premium health plan.<\/p>\n

These policy changes align with what many conservatives<\/a> have been seeking. But it wasn\u2019t clear Monday whether the plan would also include expanded restrictions under the so-called Hyde amendment<\/a>, which bans federal funds from being used for abortions.<\/p>\n

One of the people who described the tentative plan and two other people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions said congressional Republicans still didn\u2019t know how Trump\u2019s proposal would deal with that thorny issue.<\/p>\n

The ACA has always barred federal subsidies from paying for abortions but left it up to states to determine whether health insurance plans in the individual market could cover abortion using other funding.<\/p>\n

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America, reiterated in a statement Monday her anti-abortion group will penalize any lawmaker who votes for a subsidies extension without additional abortion guardrails that ban coverage nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe oppose any health care plan that fails to include this safeguard,\u201d she said. \u201cOur position is consistent and will not change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s plan to extend the ACA credits \u2014 even with changes sought by conservatives \u2014 also blindsided some Hill Republicans<\/a> who have dug in against any bipartisan deal to extend the credits.<\/p>\n

“I know that we’ve got different ideas in our conference,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a Monday morning interview on Fox Business Network. “I think you’re going to hear more from the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

House GOP leadership last week gave a presentation to the House Republican Conference slamming the subsidies for perpetuating what they dubbed the \u201cUnaffordable Care Act,\u201d a moniker Emmer repeated Monday.<\/p>\n

Not all Republicans reacted negatively to the news of a forthcoming health policy announcement from Trump. Rep. Tim Burchett in an interview Monday credited the president with having \u201csome guts\u201d to get lawmakers \u201cto the table.\u201d Trump\u2019s forthcoming framework, Burchett added, \u201cstarts the negotiating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the subsidies,\u201d the Tennessee Republican continued, \u201cbut everybody griping about it doesn\u2019t have a plan, so get some guts, put up a plan \u2026 or get the heck out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burchett also said the White House will now roll out the plan Tuesday, underscoring confusion and mixed messaging around the forthcoming presentation.<\/p>\n

Leavitt left open a broad array of possibilities for the final White House plan Monday, including that it might not ultimately include a subsidy extension. Asked specifically if that provision would be included, she told reporters, “As you all know, sometimes you report things and then President Trump comes out with an announcement and those things are not always true.”<\/p>\n

Some Democrats expressed cautious optimism upon learning that Trump was preparing to embrace an extension of the ACA credits.<\/p>\n

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who has been heavily involved in the bipartisan negotiations on health care, said in a statement Monday that she has had \u201cconstructive conversations\u201d with Republicans about extending the enhanced tax credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the reports are true and the President is considering coming to the table in good faith, I believe we can find a path forward that can earn broad bipartisan support in Congress,\u201d Shaheen said.<\/p>\n

She added that anything Trump puts out on the issue could signal \u201ca serious proposal to begin negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats, including Shaheen, have been discussing what their strategy should be ahead of a floor vote in mid-December on a proposal to extend the subsidies, which was promised to Democrats by Senate Majority Leader John Thune in exchange for their votes to end the government shutdown. Democrats will get to decide what proposal they want a vote on, though Republicans are expected to offer their own alternative unless there is a bipartisan deal.<\/p>\n

One provision that had been included in Trump\u2019s tentative plan \u2014 pegging the eligibility cap for the subsidies at 700 percent of the federal poverty line \u2014 is among the ideas being mulled by Shaheen and her colleagues.<\/p>\n

But other Democrats slammed the proposal outright, further casting doubt on how Trump\u2019s opening salvo would land on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

In a statement Monday afternoon, the three top House Democrats on committees with jurisdiction over health care \u2014 Reps. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Bobby Scott of Virginia \u2014 panned the White House\u2019s forthcoming proposal, calling it the \u201cgreatest hits of Republican health care ideas the people have rejected for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

They continued, \u201cAt this point, anything short of a clean extension is unworkable and won\u2019t avoid the price hikes people are now facing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s health care plan is in limbo after pushback from Republicans who were caught off guard by the president\u2019s forthcoming proposal \u2014 questioning, in particular, whether it would include additional abortion restrictions. Trump had been expected to unveil a new policy framework Monday afternoon, said two people familiar with the plan and granted anonymity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}