Senators to hear testimony on individual market

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee wants to get an individual market stabilization bill passed by mid-September, before insurers file the final rates for premiums. On Wednesday, the first of four hearings to inform that legislation will be convened, with three Republican and two Democratic governors testifying on the panel.

GOP Gov. Charlie Baker leads the bright-blue state of Massachusetts, without a single Republican in its congressional delegation. The two Democratic governors represent states—Colorado and Montana—that each have one Democratic and one Republican senator. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander has invited his home-state governor, Bill Haslam of Tennessee, and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.

On Thursday, the committee will hear from insurance commissioners from Tennessee and Washington, as well as Alaska, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

The only insurer selling on Alaska’s exchange has requested a 21.6% decrease in premiums next year because the state implemented its own reinsurance through a 1332 waiver. Reinsurance was phased out nationally this year.

Democrats argue that funds for reinsurance should be part of an effort to make the individual market more affordable for buyers who make too much for subsidies, but Alexander has not specifically endorsed that for this round.