Sen. Alexander backs Obamacare mandate repeal as part of tax reform
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander said Wednesday he supports the Senate GOP’s tax-reform bill and has no problem with it including a provision to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that everyone buy health insurance.
Tying repeal of the so-called individual mandate to the tax-reform measure could cost Alexander Democratic support for a separate bipartisan bill that he negotiated with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray to stabilize Obamacare’s individual health insurance markets in the short term.
In an escalating war of words, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Wednesday that Democrats will withdraw their support for the Alexander-Murray bill if the GOP includes the individual mandate repeal as part of tax reform.
Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, insisted the two issues are separate and suggested Schumer should rethink his threat.
“If Sen. Schumer switches his position on Alexander-Murray, he’ll have a hard time keeping a straight face any time in the future when he criticizes President Trump for switching his position,” Alexander said. “Sen. Schumer has been the bill’s most enthusiastic supporter … It’s the same bill it was yesterday.”
Democrats are furious not only that the GOP tax package includes a provision to repeal the individual mandate, but that Republicans will allow a vote on the AlexanderMurray bill in tandem with the tax legislation.
Murray accused Republicans of using the bipartisan bill as “political cover” to pass a tax-reform package that Democrats say will provide billions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich and cause health insurance premiums to soar.
By allowing the Alexander-Murray bill to move at the same time, Democrats argue, Republicans are trying to create the impression they have a solution for the higher premiums and other problems that will be created with repeal of the individual mandate.
But, “tacking Alexander-Murray onto the partisan Republican tax reform effort is like trying to put out a fire with penicillin,” Murray said. “It will not do anything to help.”
The Alexander-Murray legislation, announced in October after weeks of negotiations, is intended to shore up Obamacare insurance markets and lower premiums by guaranteeing for two years subsidy funding that
reduces the cost of plans. President Trump has halted the subsidy payments, which are worth around $7 billion this year.
The bipartisan package also would expand the authority for states to experiment with alternative standards for insurance plans that deviate from federal requirements.
Alexander says the bill, if passed, would offer short-term relief in 2018 and 2019 for people in states such as Tennessee, where consumers are getting hammered with higher rates.
On the other hand, eliminating the individual mandate would mean fewer people are insured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Repealing the health insurance mandate would save the government about $338 billion over the coming decade because people would choose not to sign up for Medicaid or for insurance sold through government exchanges that have subsidized premiums, the CBO estimates.
The nonpartisan agency’s report also found that a repeal would lead to 4 million fewer people with insurance next year, 13 million fewer in 2027, and rate increases of about 10 percent for those who remain in the exchanges.
Alexander said he supports getting rid of the individual mandate and said making its repeal part of the tax package is appropriate since it is “a tax mostly on poor people.”
If eliminating the individual mandate would cause premiums to rise, that is something the Senate would have to look at separately from the Alexander-Murray bill, he said.
While Republicans are expected to move the Alexander-Murray bill around the same time, Alexander said that under Senate rules it cannot not be part of the tax package. More than likely, he said, it will be included in a separate, end-of-theyear spending bill that will be put to a vote in December.