After another day of Republican health care bill fiascos: “President Trump: ‘Let Obamacare Fail…I’m Not Going to Own It’”.

“President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would let Obamacare “fail” in the aftermath of his party’s botched efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. “I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll let Obamacare fail,” Trump said at the White House. “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you, the Republicans are not going to own it.” Once Obamacare collapses, Trump said Democrats would join Republicans so Congress would be able to “come up with new plan, really good for people.”” (A)

“Trump’s response also vacillated wildly in the hours after the BCRA’s collapse. First, he advocated for immediate repeal with no set replacement. Then, he suggested early Tuesday that Republicans should leave Obamacare in place and come back around when it “fails.”” (B)

After Real Now/ Replace Later died last night…“U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell had set a vote on a straight repeal of Obamacare after it became clear he did not have the votes to overhaul the healthcare law, but the new approach unraveled within hours.
Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and LisaMurkowski of Alaska quickly announced they would not back repeal, dooming the fledgling effort. With Democrats united in opposition, Republicans can only afford to lose two votes to pass the measure in the Senate, where they have a slim 52-48 majority.”
“I do not think that it’s going to be constructive to repeal a law that at this point is so interwoven within our healthcare system and then hope that over the next two years we will come up with some kind of replacement,” Collins told reporters.” (C)

“An independent analysis of such an approach by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office earlier this year concluded that it would lead to 32 million more uninsured Americans over the next decade.
That is some 10 million more than predicted under the Senate repeal-and-replace plan that was scuttled Monday night, which was projected to increase the number of uninsured by 22 million by 2026.
At the same time, repealing major planks of Obamacare without a replacement would cause insurance premiums to jump by 20% to 25% next year for Americans who rely on insurance marketplaces, budget analysts concluded.
And premiums would double by 2026, according to the report.” (D)

“Despite not having the votes for passage, McConnell announced Tuesday night on the Senate floor that Republicans would hold a procedural vote on the health care bill “early next week.”…..
“I think what has to happen is the Republicans have to admit that some of the things in the ACA, we actually liked, and the Democrats have to admit that some of the things they voted for in the ACA are broken and need to be fixed,” Senator Murkowski told reporters……
After the chaos of Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Senate’s health committee chairman, acknowledged that it was time for Republicans to open up the process. He announced that his committee would begin holding hearings on how to stabilize the health care market — an area that enjoys potential bipartisan cooperation.” (E)

The collapse of the Senate Republican health bill — and the failing struggle to find yet another alternative — highlighted a harsh reality for Senate Republicans: While Republican senators freely assailed the health law while Mr. Obama occupied the White House, they have so far not been able to come up with a workable plan to unwind it that would keep both moderate Republicans and conservatives on board. (F)

(A) Trump: ‘Let Obamacare Fail…I’m Not Going to Own It’, by Kristen Welker, Adam Edelman and Ali Vitali, http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-lays-blame-health-care-bill-failure-n784006
(B) An ‘unmitigated disaster for Trump’: President’s agenda in shambles after healthcare collapse, by Bob Bryan, http://www.businessinsider.com/senate-health-care-bill-vote-trump-agenda-2017-7
(C) Republican push to overhaul or repeal healthcare law collapses in Senate, https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/07/18/republican-senator-lisa-murkowski-wont-back-repeal-only-health-bill/23035980/
(D) McConnell’s latest Obamacare repeal plan also collapsing amid more Republican defections, by Noam N. Levey and Lisa Mascaro, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-senate-republicans-new-plan-to-repeal-1500389717-htmlstory.html
(E) Mitch McConnell refuses to pull the plug on stalled Obamacare repeal plan, by MJ Lee and Lauren Fox, http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/18/politics/mcconell-repreal-and-replace-obamacare-not-successful/index.html
(F) ‘Plan C’ on Obamacare, Repeal Now and Replace Later, Has Collapsed by Thomas Kaplan, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/politics/republicans-obamacare-repeal-now-replace-later.html