President Donald Trump started Friday off with a Twitter tirade aimed at the conservative House Freedom Caucus as Republicans prepare for an uncertain vote on their healthcare legislation.
"The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!" Trump tweeted.
Republicans delayed a vote on the GOP leadership's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the healthcare law officially called the Affordable Care Act, because the party did not have enough votes to pass the bill.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have argued that the new bill, the American Health Care Act, does not go far enough in its repeal of Obamacare. The holdouts from the Freedom Caucus appeared to have enough votes to block the passage of the bill on Thursday.
The AHCA does pull funding from Planned Parenthood, but the Freedom Caucus' main issue is that other regulations from Obamacare would stay in place under the AHCA.
GOP leadership spent much of Thursday attempting to compromise on the bill to get the Freedom Caucus and others on board. Trump, whom House Speaker Paul Ryan called the "closer," met multiple times with the Freedom Caucus over the past two days but has been unable to sway their votes.
Trump also appeared to appeal directly to the American public Friday, arguing that the AHCA was the best chance the US had to overhaul its healthcare system.
"After seven horrible years of Obamacare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan!" Trump tweeted.
Health-policy analysts have predicted that deductibles would rise under the AHCA while plans would generally cover fewer health issues.
Additionally, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that premiums would increase for two years after the AHCA's passage and then come in lower than the baseline thereafter. The CBO also projected that 24 million more people would be without health insurance after 10 years if the AHCA is passed than if the existing system were to be left in place.
Trump issued an ultimatum to GOP lawmakers on Thursday night, saying they needed to pass the AHCA on Friday or Obamacare would stay in place. A vote is expected later Friday.
UPDATE: Following the president's tweet, Planned Parenthood provided a statement to Business Insider pushing back on the assertions made by Trump. The statement reads:
"It’s crystal clear: They will sacrifice the health of every woman in this country to pass this disastrous bill. This was already the worst bill for women’s health in our lifetime – and it’s getting worse every day. Yesterday Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, and Republican leadership eliminated maternity care from health coverage. Today, the President is using Planned Parenthood, and the millions of women who depend on us for care, as part of a dangerous political game. The president knows what it means to take away care at Planned Parenthood. As he himself has said, millions of women depend on us for cancer screenings, birth control, and other essential health care.
You cannot call yourself pro-family and slash maternity care. You cannot claim you want to invest in women’s health and block access to Planned Parenthood and essential women’s health care. Negotiating away access to cancer screenings, birth control and maternity care is not ‘pro-life,’ it’s cruel.
While the President tweets and plays politics, we're busy fighting to save health care that 1 in 5 women rely on."
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