Republicans expressed a number of concerns Thursday about how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a recording of a meeting obtained by The Washington Post.
"We'd better be sure that we're prepared to live with the market we've created," California Rep. Tim McClintock said. "That's going to be called Trumpcare. Republicans will own that lock, stock, and barrel, and we'll be judged in the election less than two years away."
Recordings from the private meeting at a Philadelphia Republican retreat were sent to the Post and other news outlets from an anonymous email address. Lawmakers or their offices that were heard in the recordings confirmed the remarks were genuine, The Post reported.
A long-term solution is a top concern for the legislators: "Our goal, in my opinion, should be not a quick fix. We can do it rapidly — but not a quick fix. We want a long-term solution that lowers costs," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander said.
Texas Rep. Pete Sessions said a refundable tax credit idea would not work for middle-class families who could not afford to prepay their insurance premiums, then wait on a tax refund.
Andrew Bremberg, President Donald Trump's domestic policy council adviser, offered few details about executive actions Trump might take or which proposals he preferred. He offered praise for Trump's selection of Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Health and Human Services secretary.
"This is an experienced, compassionate doctor," Bremberg said at the meeting.
New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur called into question plans the Republicans are considering about the 20 million Americans covered in the state and federal marketplaces and under Medicaid expansion.
"We're telling those people that we're not going to pull the rug out from under them, and if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them," MacArthur said, according to the Post.
New York Rep. John Faso issued a warning about an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood mixed with the Obamacare repeal.
"We are just walking into a gigantic political trap if we go down this path of sticking Planned Parenthood in the health insurance bill. If you want to do it somewhere else, I have no problem, but I think we are creating a political minefield for ourselves — [both] House and Senate," Faso said, the Post reported.
Faso said on the recording, moving to defund the abortion provider would lead to political support for Democratic legislators and campaigns, which would hurt Republicans in the future.
"Health insurance is going to be tough enough for us to deal with, without having millions of people on social media come to Planned Parenthood's defense and sending hundreds of thousands of new donors to the Democratic Senate and Democratic congressional campaign committees," according to Faso. "So, I would just urge us to rethink this."
Republicans have not yet agreed on one plan, according to Oregon Rep. Greg Walden in Kaiser Health News.
"There's no single fix," he said "There's no single plan."