WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress and health care legislation (all times local):
2:10 p.m.
A leading Republican senator says he and a top Democrat have reached an agreement on a plan to extend federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked.
GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee tells reporters that the next step will be for him and his negotiating partner — Democrat Patty Murray — to win enough support from colleagues to push it through Congress.
Earlier, Alexander said in an interview that he was nearing agreement with Murray to continue federal payments to insurers for two more years. In exchange, Republicans want Congress to give states flexibility to avoid some coverage requirements under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Trump halted the insurers’ payments last week, but has said he wants a bipartisan deal to continue them temporarily.
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2:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump says so-called “Obamacare” is “everything but dead.”
Trump spoke in the Rose Garden Tuesday at a joint press conference with the Greek prime minister.
Trump again asserted with no evidence that the votes are there now to repeal the law. He says a replacement would have the federal government turn over money for health care directly to states in the form of block grants.
The president says he wants to turn to health care after an effort to overhaul the nation’s tax system.
Previous efforts to overhaul President Barack Obama’s health care law repeatedly failed.
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11:51 a.m.
Two leading senators say they have the “basic outlines” of a bipartisan deal to resume payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked. But Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray say in brief interviews that they still have unresolved issues.
Alexander says the two bargainers are close to an agreement to continue federal subsidies to insurers for two years. Republicans want Congress to give states meaningful flexibility to ease coverage requirements under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Alexander says they still haven’t agreed on what “meaningful” means.
The payments go to insurers for their costs for reducing out-of-pocket expenses for lower-earning customers.
Trump and many Republicans consider them bailouts to carriers. Insurers and others have warned premiums will rise unless the money is restored.
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