Senators attempt to save health subsidies
WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic senators joined in announcinga plan Tuesday aimed at stabilizing America’s health insurance markets in the wake of President Donald Trump’s order to terminate “Obamacare” subsidies. Mr. Trump himself spoke approvingly of the deal, but some conservatives denounced it as an insurance company bailout,making its future uncertain.
The agreement followed weeks of negotiations between Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington that sought to address health insurance markets that have been in limbo following GOP failures to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The talks took on added urgency when
Mr. Trump announced last week that he would end monthly “cost sharing reduction” payments the government makes to help insurance companies reduce costs for lower-income people. Without that money, premiums for some people buying individual health plans would spike, and some insurers would flee the markets, industry officials warn.
The Alexander-Murray deal would continue the insurer payments for two years, while establishing new flexibility for states under former President Barack Obama’s law.
“This would allow the Senate to continue its debate about the long term of health care, but over the next two years I think Americans won’t have to worry about the possibility of being able to buy insurance in counties where they live,” Mr. Alexander said in announcing the deal after a closed-door lunch where he present edit to GOP senators.
Mr. Alexander said the president had encouraged his efforts in phone calls over the past two weeks. And at the White House, Mr. Trump responded positively, express- ing optimism that Republicans would ultimately succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act, but until then, “For one year, two years, we’re going to have a very good solution.”
Mr. Trump’s position may seem contradictory in that he himself ordered an end to the payments, calling them a bailout, but is now encouraging legislation to reinstitute them. Indeed, White House officials had said they would want more in exchange than the additional state flexibility offered in the Alexander-Murray agreement.
Just minutes before Mr. Al- exander announced the deal, White House legislative director Marc Short emerged from the Senate GOP lunch saying that “a starting point” in exchange for restoring the costsharing payments “is eliminating the individual mandate and employer mandate” — the central pillars of Obamacare.
That suggested some disagreement within the administration on the issue. If so, it does not bode well for ultimate passage of AlexanderMurray, since the president’s full support will be crucial in persuading Republicans to geton board.