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Report: Walden Expects Health Care Bill on Trump’s Desk by August

Energy and Commerce chairman says there are plenty of challenges ahead

Oregon Rep. Greg Walden said he believes health care legislation will be ready for President Donald Trump to sign by August. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Oregon Rep. Greg Walden said he believes health care legislation will be ready for President Donald Trump to sign by August. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden predicted Tuesday that a bill to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law would be on President Donald Trump’s desk by August.

But the Oregon Republican told The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network meeting in Washington that this didn’t mean there were no challenges ahead.

“I got a lot of public counsel from my friends in the Senate for the several months we were working on this,” he said, but since that chamber began drafting a bill, “it’s been radio silence.”

Walden seemed to distance himself from a provision in the House bill that would allow insurers to charge people with costly medical conditions higher premiums, the Journal reported.

“In an auto insurance market, you can for the most part control your behavior,” he said. “With health care, you can wake up one morning, and your doctor says, ‘You’ve got breast cancer,’ or ‘You’ve got this problem or that problem.’”

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