Two leading U.S. lawmakers
Bipartisan group of 24 signs on, but Trump noncommittal
have formally proposed their bipartisan compromise for steadying health insurance markets.
WASHINGTON — Democrats pressed Thursday to advance a bipartisan bill that would preserve subsidies for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act amid a new show of cooperation, even as GOP leaders suggested that they would need greater concessions before bringing it up for a vote.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, suggested that he was “open” to authorizing payments to insurers that help offset out-of-pocket health costs in the short term — but had not given up his goal of repealing the ACA.
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and the ranking Democratic member, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who authored the new health care package, said that they had 12 Republican and 12 Democratic co-sponsors for their measure. It would continue the cost-sharing reduction payments, known as CSRs, in exchange for giving states greater latitude to regulate health coverage.
Many conservative Republicans, including congressional leaders, have expressed skepticism about the prospect of passing legislation that would not roll back the ACA in a meaningful way. While the bill does make it easier for states to obtain federal waivers to change the way their markets operate and allows ACA consumers age 30 and older to buy catastrophic health plans, it preserves the law’s core mandates.
Speaking on the floor Wednesday, Alexander said those conservatives were ignoring the “chaos” that could ensue if the federal government did not provide the cost-sharing reduction payments that Trump cut off this month.
“What’s conservative about unaffordable premiums?” he asked.
Even as Alexander and Murray announced their sponsors — which included conservatives and liberals, as well as centrists from both parties — a top Republican argued that the plan had to undergo changes and win the clear support of Trump before it could succeed.
“It takes the president’s support, would be the first thing it would take,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I know they’ve got bipartisan co-sponsors. Sen. Alexander is a very methodical, very thoughtful guy. He understands that there are going to need to be changes ... before (the bill is) going to get a critical mass of support.”
Trump called Alexander twice Wednesday, the senator said, and each time encouraged him to continue working on a deal.
The president told reporters Thursday that while he prefers providing federal health funding in a block grant to states, he is open to a different approach for a finite period.
“We will probably like a very short-term solution until we hit the block grants, until that all kicks in,” he said. “And if they can do something like that, I’m open to it, but I don’t want it to be at the expense of the people. I want to take care of our people; I don’t want to take care of our insurance companies.”
The president has repeatedly decried the idea of paying money to insurers, which is the way cost-sharing payments are distributed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., whose own ACA overhaul bill faltered late last month, signed on to the new bill and have been working along with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to broker a compromise that would address the concerns of the White House and House Republicans. Johnson was “leading the effort to find a bridge,” Graham said.
Murray said she was confident that Congress would ultimately pass the measure because Americans are beginning to grasp that the impasse in Washington has translated into higher insurance rates for 2018.
“Here’s what’s really at stake,” she said, “patients and families across the country are looking ahead to next year and they are realizing they are about to pay the price for the uncertainty and partisanship we’ve seen — especially from the Trump administration — on health care over the last nine months.”
Johnson took Trump to task on Thursday, saying: “It’s always best for the president to be completely consistent in terms of what he’s supporting or not supporting. And let’s face it, he's not been particularly consistent here.”
The sponsors include GOP Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
Democrats include Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Al Franken of Minnesota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Tom Carper of Delaware, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring the proposal to the floor for debate and a vote.
“Since every Democrat, I believe, will support it, it has 60 votes,” Schumer told reporters.
A broad coalition of health groups have endorsed the bill, along with a bipartisan coalition of 10 governors.