Toomey says he sees path for health care plan
Senate Republicans try to find consensus
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
WASHINGTON— Senate Republicans faced a Trump tweet, protesters in the Capitol complex, and seven years of repeal promises as they returned from the July Fourth recess to try again to pass a health care plan.
As one of the plan’s architects, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, RPa., is among those trying to bring moderate and conservative camps together with a revised version as more and more lawmakers draw lines in the sand.
“I still see a path. I’m not Pollyanna-ish about this. It’s very, very difficult when you can only lose two votes,” he told CNBC ‘s
“Squawk Box” Monday morning. “We’re down to the point where we can’t lose anyone.”
He made the rounds Monday, also speaking with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Fox Business’s “Varney and Co.,” and Fox News “America’s Newsroom.”
Unable to get consensus before the Independence Day break, Republicans are working on a new version of the legislation aimed at drawing in more moderates. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told reporters Monday that a revised bill will be unveiled this week, and “the goal continues to be to” vote next week.
One provision of the revised legislation adds spending for drug treatment programs, something wanted by senators including Rob Portman, R-Ohio, where there has been exponential growth in deadly opioid overdoses.
“They want more spending, more government spending,” Mr. Portman told “Squawk Box.” “Conservatives want less regulation so the premiums can come down in the individual market.”
As for Mr. Toomey, he wants a plan that increases state contributions to Medicaid and caps growth at a rate lower than inflation. Democratsand some Republicans — including Ohio Gov. John Kasich — complain that states can’t afford topay more.
Mr. Toomey said it will be much worse if “this program collapses and we have a fiscal crisis because we refuse to do anything about runaway entitlement programs.”
The stakes are high, and the cost of doing nothing is huge, Mr. Toomey told Fox News. “We’ve been promising this for seven years and for good reason: Obamacare is failing,” he said.
President Donald Trump tweeted more pressure Monday as lawmakers returned from their July Fourth recess with another recess just three weeks away: “I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!”
To succeed, the new legislation will have to address the concerns of conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, who want a more full-blown repeal, and moderates like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who want essentially the opposite,a more generous bill.
Mr. Cruz has proposed letting insurers sell any policies they’d like, as long as they also sell one that covers a list of services like maternity care that Obama’s law requires. The Cruz amendment was alienating senators such as Ms. Collins amid concerns it would lead to unaffordable prices for people with preexisting medical conditions because younger, healthier customers wouldn’t be sharing their costs.
A study released Monday found that the number of uninsured adults has grown by 2 million this year, underscoring that recent coverage gains have begun to erode.
The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate among adults was 11.7 percent in the second three months of this year, compared with a record low of 10.9 percent at the end of last year. The reduction could reflect rising premiums and dwindling choices in the insurance markets created under President Barack Obama and could also flow from Trump administration actions and comments about withholdingsupport for the law.
Around 80 demonstrators opposed to the legislation were arrested around the Capitol complex Monday, according to U.S. Capitol Police.