Moments ago the House Freedom Caucus announced their support for a revised version of an Obamacare replacement bill that includes the so-called “MacArthur Amendment.” Here is the official statement from Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows:
“Over the past couple of months, House conservatives have worked tirelessly to improve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to make it better for the American people. Due to improvements to the AHCA and the addition of Rep. Tom MacArthur’s proposed amendment, the House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the current proposal.
The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA. 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. We look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to improve the bill. Our work will continue until we fully repeal Obamacare.”
Mission statement of the House Freedom Caucus:
“The House Freedom Caucus gives a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. We support open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety, and prosperity of all Americans.”
NEWS: Freedom Caucus announces support for AHCA with Rep. MacArthur’s amendment included. Statement: https://t.co/MD3NXpiPQ8
— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) April 26, 2017
As we noted previously, the “MacArthur Amendment” (summarized here) effectively allows individual states to ‘opt out’ of certain Obamacare regulations which require minimum coverage and restrict the ability to insurers to charge varying rates based on an individual’s health.
Of course, only time will tell if appealing to the more conservative wing of the Republican party will now result in defections of more centrist votes. As John Boehnor said best, “Republicans have never, ever, not once agreed on what a healthcare bill should look like.”
