President Donald Trump has indicated he is willing to support a bipartisan Senate deal that would restore Obamacare subsidies he had previously cut, in a move that appears to contradict his earlier stance. During a Rose Garden press conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday, Trump boasted about ending 'hundreds of millions of dollars a month' in cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies. However, he later expressed openness to a short-term fix proposed by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, which would reinstate those payments for two years.
The Alexander-Murray deal, announced shortly after Trump's press conference, aims to stabilise insurance markets by restoring the subsidies while granting states more flexibility in defining Obamacare-compliant policies. Trump described the bill as a way to 'get us over this intermediate hump' towards a long-term replacement of the Affordable Care Act. He emphasised his preference for a system of state block grants, saying, 'Essentially that would be the plan. Yes. Block grants.'
Despite his support for the bipartisan effort, Trump continued to criticise the Affordable Care Act, calling it 'virtually dead' and 'a disgrace to our nation.' In a tweet on Tuesday evening, he blamed premium spikes on Democrats, writing, 'Any increase in ObamaCare premiums is the fault of the Democrats for giving us a "product" that never had a chance of working.' He also commended the bipartisan effort at a Heritage Foundation dinner, stating, 'I'm pleased that Democrats have finally responded to my call for them to take responsibility for their Obamacare disaster.'
The president's shifting stance has drawn attention to the confusion surrounding his health care policy. While he initially celebrated ending the subsidies, he now appears to support a bill that would undo that decision. The Alexander-Murray bill has gained bipartisan support, with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer calling it 'a good solution' that would prevent a 'very dangerous little period' for insurance companies.
