Bipartisan deal saves health payments

WASHINGTON— Key senators reached a breakthrough deal Tuesday on resuming federal payments to health insurers that U.S. President Donald Trump has blocked. Insurers had warned that unless the money is quickly restored, premiums will go up.

At the White House, the president spoke favourably about the bipartisan compromise, which is still likely to face opposition in Congress.

The agreement would involve a two-year extension of federal payments to insurers that Trump halted last week, said Sen. Lamar Alexan- der, R-Tenn. Unless the money is quickly restored, insurers and others say that will result in higher premiums for people buying individual policies and in some carriers leaving unprofitable markets.

Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., have been working for weeks on health care legislation, separate from repeated and unsuccessful efforts by GOP leaders to dismantle Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Emerging from a closed-door GOP luncheon on Tuesday, Alexander said, “Senator (Patty) Murray and I have an agreement,” and added that Trump has encouraged them and the “president likes this idea.”

While the agreement is a breakthrough, they still need to secure the support of fellow Republicans and Democrats. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was noncommittal while Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., welcomed the agreement as a step forward that will provide stability for insurance markets in the short-term.

Murray hailed the bipartisan effort, saying “when Republicans and Democrats take the time . . . we can truly get things done” for the American people.