UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc

By Stephanie Armour, Anna Wilde Mathews and Michelle Hackman 

President Donald Trump is planning to hold a round-table meeting with health-insurance executives at the White House on Monday, according to people close to the planning, as the administration looks to encourage insurers to sign onto Republicans' health-care overhaul efforts.

The gathering is expected to focus on getting the industry leaders' support for the GOP initiative, which would dismantle much of the Affordable Care Act and introduce several measures supported by many Republicans, including age-adjusted tax credits and expanded access to health-savings accounts.

Among the CEOs expected to attend the meeting are UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s Stephen J. Hemsley; Kaiser Permanente's Bernard J. Tyson; Mark T. Bertolini, of Aetna Inc.; Brad Wilson of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Cigna Corp.'s David Cordani, and Humana Inc.'s Bruce Broussard. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, another key player in repeal efforts, will also be there.

During his first month in office, Mr. Trump has hosted a series of one-on-one and round-table meetings with CEOs, including executives from the airline industry and the retail and manufacturing sectors.

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump has signaled that repealing and replacing former President Barack Obama's signature health-care bill is a priority. On Friday morning, the president addressed health care during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a prominent gathering of political conservatives from across the country.

"We're going to repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare," Mr. Trump said, adding that the law "covers very few people."

Since the law was passed, the number of uninsured Americans has dropped by around 22 million, largely attributed to an expansion of the Medicaid program and the provision of subsidies for consumers to buy policies through individual market exchanges.

Monday's White House session with CEOs will coincide with the last day of a four-day gathering of the National Governors Association in Washington. Republican governors plan to meet with congressional lawmakers during that event, in an attempt to forge a consensus on how to overhaul the health law's Medicaid expansion. The governors also have a meeting scheduled with the president on Monday morning.

House committees are expected to start producing draft legislation on their health-care plan next week, though internal GOP divisions may slow that process.

Insurers are concerned about several provisions envisioned by House Republican leaders, including an immediate end to the enforcement of the ACA's requirement that most Americans pay a penalty if they don't have insurance. Insurers have said such a move would eliminate a tool that is necessary for getting younger, healthier consumers to purchase plans, offsetting costs from older and sicker people.

The Trump administration has in some ways been quick to respond to insurers' concerns. The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed changes to help shore up the individual insurance market under the ACA -- including plans to shorten the open enrollment period and to better verify the eligibility of people signing up during special enrollment windows -- to give insurers more stability and predictability.

The administration wants to be sure that insurers will continue participating in the ACA exchanges in 2018, buying Republicans time to craft and enact their health plan.

--Louise Radnofsky contributed to this article.

Write to Stephanie Armour at stephanie.armour@wsj.com, Anna Wilde Mathews at anna.mathews@wsj.com and Michelle Hackman at Michelle.Hackman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2017 16:48 ET (21:48 GMT)

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