House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also declined this week to make a guarantee that a replacement would cover the same number of people as ObamaCare. He noted that there are other issues to consider besides coverage.

“There’s a lot of areas that you want to look at,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday. “You want to look at a system that works, you want to look at a system for cost purposes, you want to look at a system to have greater choices, but you want to be able to care for those at the same time who can’t have healthcare so all those will go into the mix to make the very best healthcare [plan].”

Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that Republicans are likely to put more of a priority on reducing federal spending and regulations than covering as many people as the ACA.

“It will be very hard for any replacement plan that spends less than the ACA to cover as many people, and scaling back rules for required benefits will lead to skimpier coverage,” Levitt wrote in an email.