2 dozen senators co-sponsor health premium fix

Sen. Lamar Alexander said 24 senators, including Tennessee’s Bob Corker and 11 other Republicans, have signed on as co-sponsors to a bipartisan bill aimed at continuing cost-sharing subsidies for health insurers for two years and giving states more freedom to design coverage.

President Donald Trump said last week he was canceling the subsidies, which Alexander said could force premiums up by 20 percent and ratchet up the national debt by $194 billion over 10 years. Alexander, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he and ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington worked out the bipartisan deal.

“Our agreement permanently amends the Affordable Care Act to give new flexibility for states to create insurance policies that have a larger variety and lower costs,” Alexander said.

“… Some conservatives object to the idea of paying them at all, but I would ask what’s conservative about unaffordable premiums? What’s conservative about $194 billion of new federal debt? What’s conservative about creating chaos so millions can’t buy insurance? What’s conservative about a four-lane highway that would be the chaos that leads to a single-payer solution for insurance in this country?

“We haven’t moved an inch toward our objectives in the last seven years of giving states more flexibility in creating insurance policies in the individual market. This agreement does,” he said.