Murphy rolls out ‘public option’ Medicare plan
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy is putting his legislative weight behind a measure to open up Medicare as a choice for non-elderly health-care consumers — even though in his heart he prefers Medicare for All.
“If I were designing a health-care system from scratch in this country, I’d design a single-payer health-care system,” Murphy said at a news conference Wednesday, referring to the key feature of Medicare for All: The U.S. government replaces private health insurance companies as the conduit for health-care coverage.
“To me, It is obvious, because Medicare is the most popular, most affordable, best quality insurance product out there today,” he told reporters in rolling out his Choose Medicare Act, co-authored with fellow Senate Democrats Jeff Merkley, of Oregon. “It’s ridiculous that you wait until you turn 65, or until you become disabled, in order to have access to (Medicare).”
Murphy said his support for a middle-ground alternative — known as the “public option” — is grounded in his belief that it is more “politically palatable” than Medicare for All, introduced last month by 2020 presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
The Murphy-Merkley bill would allow health-care consumers under retirement age to sign up for Medicare as an option on a menu of plans offered by the federal or state exchanges — such as Access Health CT in Connecticut.
It would also allow employers to pick Medicare as their plan for employees. Those who sign up would benefit from government bargaining with pharmaceutical companies to bring down drug prices, as well as increase premium tax credits to make policies more affordable.
The competition would drive down the cost of commercial health plans on the market, Murphy said, noting that out-of-pocket medical costs represent the biggest source of irritation over health insurance among those attending his town halls in Connecticut.
Also Wednesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., introduced a comparable measure she is calling the Medicare for America Act.
The act stipulates that Americans who do not have health insurance through an employer or an Obamacare plan would be autoenrolled in Medicare.
“Our country has long aspired to create a universal health care system that gives people quality coverage without the fear of skyrocketing costs and the hassle of unnecessary complexity,” DeLauro said in a statement. “Medicare for America puts us squarely on that path.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Medicare-for-all supporter, immediately signed on as a co-sponsor to the Murphy proposal. Blumenthal has said he is open to all measures and only wants “what’s best for Connecticut. I will not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” But Murphy declined to return the favor, pointedly refusing to sign on to the Sanders “Medicare for All” bill because it stands less of a chance to win bipartisan support.
President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and most all conservative Republicans generally have blasted away at the bill as outright socialism.
A White House report last year, titled “The Opportunity Costs of Socialism,” likened Medicare for All to policies favored by historical Communist dictators such as V.I. Lenin, who led the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and Mao Zedong, who did much the same in China.
Republicans have argued that going down the road to government-controlled health care would put the U.S on the same path to economic ruin as Venezuela.
The public option embodied in the Murphy-Merkley bill has not drawn as much Republican fire.
Murphy said he thought his Choose Medicare bill stands a greater chance of drawing Republican support, “if not here (on Capitol Hill), then across the country.”
The bill’s core public option was considered by Democrats in drafting the 2010 Affordable Care Act — Obamacare. But Democrats ultimately deleted the option because it was so controversial, even in a bill that passed with no Republican support and has drawn the wrath of prominent GOP political figures ever since.
Obamacare has worked well in Connecticut when compared to other states. In the last enrollment period, Health Access CT signed up 111,000 for health insurance. In addition some 231,000 in the sate get health insurance via expansion of the Medicaid program, intended to help those at or below the poverty line.
But Obamacare encountered an unanticipated structural problem and, in a sense, became the victim of its own success. Subsidies and tax credits helped many middle- and lower-middle income families to get insurance they otherwise could not afford.
But those earning just above the cut-off line often found insurance unaffordable, with high premiums or high deductibles — or both. In addition, Republicans fought an all-out but unsuccessful war to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, which made it impossible to tinker with Obamacare subsidies.
Although the numbers of uninsured dropped dramatically in the past five years, there still remain 27 million without insurance — 195,600 in Connecticut.
Murphy said these people would now have an affordable, comprehensive choice for health care.
“I think this is the fastest route to get to a universal coverage system,” Murphy said. “I worry about how long it may take to get adopted and signed Medicare-for-All bill.”