- Senator McConnell Signals Willingness to Hold Vote on Health Deal If Trump Approves New York Times by Nicholas Fandos — Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said on Sunday that he would be willing to bring a bipartisan proposal to stabilize health insurance markets up for debate if President Trump signaled his support. "If there's a need for some kind of interim step here to stabilize the market, we need a bill the president will actually sign," Mr. McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union."
- Bipartisan Plan to Curb Health Premiums Gets Strong Support Associated Press Erica Werner and Alan Fram — A bipartisan proposal to calm churning health insurance markets gained momentum Thursday when enough lawmakers rallied behind it to give it potentially unstoppable Senate support. But its fate remained unclear as some Republicans sought changes that could threaten Democratic backing. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said their plan had 24 sponsors, divided evenly between both parties, for resuming federal subsidies to insurers. Trump has blocked the money and without it, insurers are already raising premiums for many buying individual coverage and could flee unprofitable markets.
- White House Says Rollback of Obamacare Must Be Part of Short-Term Fix Reuters by Richard Cowan and Yasmeen Abutaleb — A senior White House aide said on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump would demand steps toward repealing Obamacare in any health care legislation, comments that cast doubt on the prospects for a short-term bill to shore up insurance markets. Marc Short, the White House's top liaison to Congress, said on CNN that Obamacare's mandates and taxes would have to be rolled back and consumers be allowed to more heavily invest in health-savings accounts for Trump to sign off on any congressional deal.
- Top Dems Nix White House Demands to Alter Health Care Deal Associated Press by Alan Fram — Top Senate Democrats rejected White House demands Friday to add provisions weakening the Obama health care law to a bipartisan deal on steadying unsettled insurance markets. The compromise already faced an uphill path and this was the latest blow. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Trump administration was involved in the negotiations that produced the accord and "should support it instead of floating other ideas that would further the sabotage both parties are trying to reverse."