Bipartisan House group forms health plan
Caucus of 40 ‘Problem Solvers’ would maintain Affordable Care Act but relax some rules
After the House went on recess and the Senate’s leader said it’s time to move on, a bipartisan group of more than 40 House members said Monday that Congress needs to act quickly to stabilize the individual health insurance market.
A five-point plan from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus would abandon any pretense of repealing the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, while boosting spending, repealing one tax and relaxing regulations.
The caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., is built around an agreement that once members reach consensus on issues, they pledge to vote as a bloc.
That could sway a close vote in the divided House, where a repeal-and-replace plan passed this year with just one vote to spare.
The group’s health care prescription would:
uProvide mandatory funding for “cost sharing reduction” payments to insurance companies to hold down out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-payments in Obamacare plans for households earning below 250% of the poverty level.
uCreate a stability fund that states could use to reduce premiums and limit insurer losses, especially for people with pre-existing conditions.
uChange the mandate that employers provide coverage to apply only to companies with 500 or more employees, compared with the current 50-employee
threshold, and define a full-time workweek as 40 hours, up from 30 hours.
uRepeal the 2.3% sales tax on medical devices.
uModify sections of the Affordable Care Act to make it easier for states to innovate and enter into compacts to allow for the sale of coverage across state lines.
“For too long, health care has been viewed as a fiercely partisan battleground, but the Problem Solvers Caucus has shown that it is possible to forge cooperation,” Gottheimer said.
“We’ve locked arms to continue the fight for the American people, their families and their health care,” Reed said.
What success the group will have is unclear. The House is on recess until after Labor Day, and President Trump’s administration is making cost-sharing reduction payments on a monthto-month basis.
At times on Twitter, he has suggested ending the payments as a way to accelerate an Obamacare crisis that would force Democrats to bargain with Republican majorities in Congress.
The Senate is in session this week but has no health care proposals on its agenda after a series of plans, including a “skinny repeal” designed to get the issue to a House-Senate conference committee, failed to get the needed 50 votes for passage last week.
Republican members who put their names behind the Problem Solvers plan include: Martha McSally of Arizona, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Fred Upton of Michigan, Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, Leonard Lance of New Jersey, Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, John Faso of New York and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania.
Democrats endorsing the plan include Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Scott Peters of California, Tom Suozzi of New York, Dan Lipinski of Illinois, Jim Costa of California, Brad Schneider of Illinois and Jim Himes of Connecticut.
“We’ve locked arms to continue the fight for the American people, their families and their health care.” Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y.