House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would “most likely” bring ahealth-care bill forward for a floor vote on Thursday, even as heseeks to increase tax credits to help older people buy insurance totamp down concerns about moderate Republicans.

Related: ACA has had greatest effect in pro-Trumpcommunities

“We believe that we do need to add some additional assistance topeople in those older cohorts,” Ryan said of the bill, known as theAmerican Health Care Act, on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s one of thethings we’re looking at.”

Ryan defined the group as people in their 50s and 60s whotypically face higher health care costs than those in their 20s or30s. A Congressional Budget Office review of the bill released onMarch 13 suggested there would be increases in out-of-pocket costs,especially for older people.

The nonpartisan CBO estimated that 14 million Americans couldlose their insurance next year under the Republican’sObamacare-replacement plan, a dire picture of the bill’s effectsthat could hurt the party heading into the 2018 congressionalelections.

At the same time, insurance premiums will continue to rise inthe near term, especially for older Americans. As the bill nowstands, older, poorer Americans will have far less help fromRepublican tax credits starting in 2020 than they get throughObamacare subsidies.

‘Older, rural Americans’

“We have to do something about the fact that the House billdisproportionately affects older, rural Americans,” RepublicanSenator Susan Collins of Maine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” onSunday.

Related: Rural America biggest beneficiary of ACA, studiesshow

Ryan didn’t say whether he had the 218 votes necessary to passthe bill, which would replace President Barack Obama’s signatureAffordable Care Act, but he said he feels “very good aboutwhere we are.”

“We’re still having conversations with our members,” Ryan said.“We’re making fine-tuning improvements to the bill to reflectpeople’s concerns.”

Asked on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” whether thebill would pass the House on Thursday, Republican RepresentativeCathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington said, “We’re definitely movingin the right direction” and “I am confident we will come together.”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that effortsto sell the bill are “going well, had a lot of meetings on that.”Trump met with Vice President Mike Pence and senior staff thisweekend, and chief strategist Steve Bannon conferred withRepublican senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, as wellas Republican Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina,chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, according to a White Houseaide.

Related: Rural hospitals hurt by lack of Medicaid expansion,study says

Ryan said that proposed changes to the health-care system thatwould occur outside of the bill also would lower payments. Healthand Human Services Secretary Tom Price also said regulatory changesin particular could increase competition in markets.

“We’ve had insurers tell us not only will we stay in the market,we’ll get back in the market,” Price said Sunday on ABC’s “ThisWeek.”

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican critic of the billwho’s said voting for the measure as written may imperil theparty’s majority in the Huse in the 2018 midterm elections, said hedidn’t believe the bill would lower premiums for workingpeople.

“It’s fixable, but it’s going to take a lot of work,” Cottonsaid on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We need to roll up our sleevesand focus on fixing those problems, rather than trying to rush tosome arbitrary deadline.”

Red areas

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Obamacare can beimproved and Republicans could work with Democrats to do that.Instead, she said, the bill championed by Republicans would hurt“millions of people who are benefiting” from the current law whovoted for Trump, and hand tax breaks to wealthy people in regionsthat voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“That money will be taken from red areas, and many of the peoplewho will be advantaged by the money going to the high end will bein blue areas,” the California lawmaker said on CBS News’s“Face the Nation.” “How’s that? It’s so wrong.”

Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, said Trumpvoters and everyone else would be better off under the Republicanbill. It provides tax-credit assistance and would spur increasedcompetition to reduce costs, he said.

“We know who his voters are. And we’re going to take care ofthem,” Mulvaney said on CBS. “But that doesn’t mean we’re leavingObamacare in place because that would actually hurt themdramatically.”