Bipartisan plan to curb health premiums gets strong support

Washington — A bipartisan proposal to calm churning health insurance markets gained momentum Thursday when enough lawmakers rallied behind it to give it potentially unstoppable Senate support.

But its fate remained unclear as some Republicans sought changes that could threaten Democratic backing.

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said their plan had 24 sponsors, divided evenly between both parties, for resuming federal subsidies to insurers. Trump has blocked the money and without it, insurers are already raising premiums for many buying individual coverage and could flee unprofitable markets.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said all 48 Democrats — including two independents who support them — would back the measure in a vote. That meant that combined with the dozen GOP sponsors there would be 60 votes for the plan, the number needed to overcome a filibuster, a delaying tactic meant to kill legislation.

“Every Democrat’s voting for it. Do the math, baby,” an exultant Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters.

The politically compelling arithmetic raises pressure on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who’s been noncommittal so far, to let the Senate consider the legislation. A McConnell spokesman offered no new statement from him.

The growing Senate support also improved the chances that the proposal would become law, perhaps later this year as part of a must-pass measure financing the entire government.

The measure would still have to clear the House, where Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and many conservatives have been cold to the idea, and win Trump’s signature.

Two supporters of the bipartisan plan, GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, said in a statement that it “will not pass unless concerns of the House are addressed.” They said they were seeking agreement on provisions adding flexibility for states to ease some requirements of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

In an interview, Graham suggested making tax-favored health savings accounts more generous and giving consumers more information about medical prices. But he also mentioned letting insurers sell a wider range of lower-cost policies, which Democrats have resisted as a weakening of Obama’s law.

“Every Democrat’s voting for it. Do the math, baby.” CHUCK SCHUMER, SENATE MINORITY LEADER