WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and some House conservatives agreed Friday to make changes in the troubled Republican health care bill in hopes of easing deep party divisions over the overhaul plan. But other conservatives expressed continued opposition and it remained uncertain that party leaders had won enough support to push the high-profile measure through the House next week.
After a White House meeting between President Donald Trump and around a dozen House Republicans and late night telephone talks, a leader of one group of House conservatives said he and others were now backing the legislation. The bill would kill much of former President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law and create new tax credits and curbs on Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for lower-income people.
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"I want everyone to know I'm 100 percent behind this," Trump said at the White House.
Lawmakers said the two sides agreed to additional restrictions on Medicaid that states would be allowed to choose. They said states could impose work requirements on some recipients and decide to accept a lump-sum federal payment for Medicaid, instead of an amount that would grow with the number of beneficiaries.
"We're a yes. We're excited to be there," said Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., leader of the Republican Study Committee, a large group of conservatives.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said votes on the legislation were planned for next Thursday.
The House GOP's vote counter, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, also attended the meeting and said the changes give Republicans "the best chance" to get the legislation to the Senate. GOP divisions also threaten the legislation in that chamber.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of another, harder-line group of conservative House lawmakers, said earlier that the changes being discussed were not enough to win his support. Meadows did not attend the White House meeting.
"They won't have the votes unless they change it" further, said Meadows, who leads the House Freedom Caucus. He said that an optional work requirement for Medicaid "doesn't move the ball more than a couple yards on a very long playing field."
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.