Bipartisan Health Plan Gains Support Even As Trump Urges Senators To Let Marketplace Implode
The proposal from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) focuses on shoring up the individual exchanges. Meanwhile, states have been working for years to put in place bipartisan compromises to make the health law sustainable, and they might become a source of inspiration for federal lawmakers.
The Wall Street Journal:
Senate Push On Bipartisan Health Proposal Signals Deeper Rift Between GOP, Trump
A number of Senate Republicans are gathering behind a bipartisan push to shore up the Affordable Care Act, reflecting a growing divide between President Donald Trump and many GOP senators. Republicans brushed off a call by Mr. Trump to continue working on a repeal of the 2010 health-care law after their bill to roll back and replace it failed by a single vote in the Senate in late July. Mr. Trump has called for letting the ACA implode on its own, and on Thursday the administration cut funding for ads and grants to encourage ACA sign-ups, a move that Democrats said would destabilize insurance markets. (Armour and Peterson, 9/1)
Politico:
Senate’s Obamacare Fixes Would Build On Heavy Lifting By States
While Congress was busy bickering over repealing the health law, officials in red and blue states worked frantically to soothe anxious insurers, tamp down rate increases and insulate their markets from the ceaseless chaos in Washington. The result is an Obamacare system that’s still vulnerable, but far from the “disaster” President Donald Trump and his top health officials describe. (Cancryn, 9/5)
Los Angeles Times:
As Some In Congress Look To Move Past The Obamacare Standoff, States Offer A More Bipartisan Model
With interest growing among congressional Republicans and Democrats in modifying the Affordable Care Act to bolster the nation’s health insurance markets, states are emerging as potential models for bipartisan cooperation. The political battling over the 2010 healthcare law, widely known as Obamacare, may not be over, especially with President Trump continuing to undermine the law. (Levey, 9/3)
And, in other news —
Bloomberg:
Paul Ryan Calls Alternative Health-Care Proposal ‘Intriguing’
House Speaker Paul Ryan said a health-care plan floated by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana “has got merit and has legs under it.” The comments, in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, are Ryan’s most encouraging words yet for a proposal that grew out of the Senate’s failure to overhaul Obamacare. The Graham-Cassidy proposal would send federal health-care funds to the states in block grants, while repealing Obamacare’s mandates that all Americans have insurance and most employers provide it. Some governors have gotten behind the alternative, and Ryan said “various caucuses in the House” are open to it. (Edgerton, 9/1)
