Kasich, Hickenlooper plan draws some praise

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, have released details of a bipartisan effort to tackle health reform.

“On health-care reform, we have to look forward, not back. We need to ask ourselves, how can we improve our current system?” Kasich tweeted on Thursday. “This blueprint is the result of true and real compromise in practice. Republicans and Democrats CAN work together for the common good.”

Hickenlooper, about the same time, tweeted, “6 more governors — Rs & Ds — have joined in vital effort to stabilize markets, control costs & create a partnership ... w/ federal Govt. Lasting solutions will need support from all sides and we look forward to working together.”

The plan was released ahead of hearings on possible health-care fixes next week before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee.

Six other governors — Republican Brian Sandoval of Nevada; Democrats Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, Terry R. McAuliffe of Virginia, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, and Steve Bullock of Montana; and Independent Bill Walker of Alaska — endorsed the proposal.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the governors outlined their plan, urging Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration to “take immediate action to stabilize the individual health insurance marketplace.”

Millions of Americans without access to health coverage through their employer or government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid purchase insurance through individual markets.

The governors called for continued federal funding through at least 2019 of costsharing reduction subsidies to insurance companies that reduce deductibles and copays of lower-income people.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that not making these payments would drive up premiums 20

to 25 percent and increase the federal deficit $194 billion over 10 years, the governors noted.

The governors also recommended:

Exempting insurers who offer coverage in under-served counties from the federal health insurance tax.

Allowing residents in those counties to buy into the Federal Employee Benefit Program, giving them access to the same health care as federal workers.

Keeping the individual mandate “at least for now” to prevent a rapid exit of insurers from the marketplace and for incentive for healthy people to buy coverage.

During an appearance with Hickenlooper on CNN Thursday afternoon, Kasich said their plan “should satisfy about everybody. If you are a Democrat and you want to double down on Obamacare, you can. And if you are a Republican and you want to design your own plan within certain guidelines — because we don’t want people dropping folks from coverage — you can do it. I’m excited about having the responsibility to design a plan that fits us just like all the other 49 states can do.”

After a tour of the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base on Thursday, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, was non-committal about the governors’ plan.

“I’m ready to see the details of it,” he said. “The devil is in the details of how we get there.”

Portman said he wanted to see a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the proposals and also look at other ideas.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, applauded the proposal.

“Gov. John Kasich is right — we’ve got to stabilize our health insurance market, lower costs and make sure all Ohioans can get health care,” he said. “These bipartisan efforts are an example to all of us of how we can work together to come up with commonsense solutions.”