Revised healthcare bill wins over Freedom Caucus, but still faces tough road ahead

Though the latest version of an Affordable Care Act repeal and replacement bill has pleased conservatives, the same changes that won them over may make it tougher for the bill to reach the president’s desk.

The House Freedom Caucus has officially thrown its support behind the American Health Care Act, thanks to an amendment that lets states opt out of certain ACA provisions, Rep. Mark Meadows, the group’s chairman, announced.

The amendment, authored by Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., of the moderate Tuesday Group, “will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA,” Meadows said. “While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs.”

Heritage Action for America, a conservative policy advocacy organization, also noted in an emailed statement that the bill still wasn’t the full ACA repeal that many Republicans promised.

However, “given the extreme divides in the Republican Party, allowing Texas and South Carolina to make different decisions on health insurance regulations than New York and New Jersey may be the only way forward,” said the group’s CEO, Mike Needham.

Getting the Freedom Caucus, and conservatives in general, on board represents a step forward for Republicans’ ACA repeal push, but pushing the bill farther right may erode House centrists’ support of the bill.

The concessions to conservatives might also lessen the legislation’s likelihood of passing the Senate, where members tend to be more moderate, as Politico pointed out.

“Once they pass a bill, my assumption is, the Senate’s going to take a look at it but not necessarily be rubber-stamping what they’re proposing,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told the publication.

What’s more, several Republicans have begun to question whether a budget reconciliation measure is actually the best way to repeal the ACA, the article added.

Meanwhile, MacArthur said in a statement sent to Vox that he is working to eliminate a part of the bill that allows Congress members and staffers to retain the same ACA protections that states would be able to waive for their citizens. Some had deemed that exception as hypocritical on Republicans' part.