Trump opposes bipartisan Senate deal on Obamacare.

Reuters - A bipartisan agreement between two U.S. senators aimed at balancing Obamacare by restoring subsidies to health insurance companies faced a setback on Wednesday, with the White House saying President Donald Trump opposes the plan, Republicans criticizing it, and the Speaker of the House showing no interest in adopting it.

The agreement announced Tuesday by Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray aims to strengthen former President Barack Obama's health care law by reinstating billions of dollars in subsidies to health insurance companies for two years to help low-income citizens obtain health coverage.

Alexander said on Wednesday that Trump "completely engineered" the bipartisan proposal, but the president backtracked on the support he expressed a day earlier.

On Tuesday, Trump said the White House had been involved in the negotiations and that the agreement was a "very good solution" for a short-term approach, but later on Tuesday and Wednesday he said he would not support a plan that enriches insurance companies.

Trump cut subsidies to these companies, saying that Congress had not provided them with money and that they were enriching the insurance companies.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders stated that Trump does not support the agreement in its current form, although she called it "a good step in the right direction."

“Look, we’ve said all along that we want something that not only bails out insurance companies, but actually provides relief to all Americans,” she said at a briefing. “And this bill doesn’t address that fact.”

Senator John Thune, a member of the Republican leadership in the Senate, said the Alexander-Murray deal had "stalled" and that its future was an "open question." Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, but only a few have publicly embraced the plan.

“Lamar Alexander is working very hard on our side. And if something happens, that’s great,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But I’m not going to do anything to enrich the healthcare companies… they got rich off Obamacare like nothing anyone has ever seen before.”

Health insurance companies say they don't profit from the subsidies, but pass them on to low-income consumers to reduce deductibles, copayments, and other healthcare expenses that come out of their own pockets.

Cutting subsidies, which are called cost-sharing reduction payments, could create chaos in the 2018 health insurance markets as established by Obamacare.

Trump, who campaigned on a promise to scrap Obamacare but has been frustrated by the inability of congressional Republicans to pass legislation to fulfill that promise, also made it clear on Tuesday that at some point he will want more comprehensive legislation to repeal and replace his predecessor's healthcare law.

Republican Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has given no indication of being willing to consider the Alexander-Murray pact.

"The Speaker sees nothing that would change his view that the Senate should remain focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare," said his spokesman, Doug Andres.