- Why Obamacare Repeal Failed Vox by Dylan Scott and Sarah Kliff — Republicans' seven-year quest to repeal Obamacare ground to a halt at 1:30 am on Friday when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) approached the podium in the Senate chamber, raised his arm, and gave the clerk a thumbs down.. But understanding why Republicans are so stuck on Obamacare repeal requires digging a bit deeper. How does a party campaign on a very specific policy and then, after gaining control of all levers of government, struggle to deliver on it? One part of the answer is political: Too many Republican legislators actually like certain parts of the health care law — and their constituents like them too.
- Republicans Leave Town with No Clear Path on Obamacare Politico by Jennifer Haberkorn and Paul Demko — Republicans are leaving Washington Thursday for a month of recess with no clear direction on what they'll do next on Obamacare. Senate leaders want to just drop the issue altogether. Conservatives say they're still fighting for repeal. Moderates want to launch a bipartisan effort to fix the shaky Obamacare system. The reality is that, after seven years of unity on repealing Obamacare, Republicans are rudderless on how to talk about or address the defining domestic policy issue of nearly the past decade for their party, and they have no clear plans despite holding all the levers of power in Washington. Now, they face a month away from the Capitol, answering to their home-state voters about their lack of progress.
- As Trump Mulls Cutting Off Obamacare Aid, Senate Begins Bipartisan Approach Los Angeles Times by Noam Levey and David Lauter — Even as President Trump renews his threat to undermine the Affordable Care Act, senior Republican and Democratic senators announced plans Tuesday to begin work on a new bipartisan effort to stabilize the 2010 health care law, often called Obamacare. The move — by Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee's senior Democrat — does not ensure the end of the GOP's long Obamacare repeal campaign. But in the wake of last week's dramatic collapse of the Senate GOP repeal effort, it signaled a new willingness by Republican senators to begin work on fixing weaknesses in the current law rather than trying to roll it back. Most independent experts, industry officials, and state regulators say stabilizing the markets and controlling premium hikes would actually be relatively straightforward.