Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he plans in 2018 to revive his bill to repurpose Obamacare funds into block grants that would go directly to states.
Cassidy said at an Axios event on Wednesday that the bill could become successful under a better process that gives him more time to sell the bill to Republicans and Democrats. The bill was pulled by Senate leadership late last month after a handful of Republican senators defected and killed the bill.
He said a major factor in the bill’s collapse in late September was the rushed process. The bill was released a few weeks before a Sept. 30 deadline to pass an Obamacare repeal bill before the budget authority to advance a bill with 51 votes in the Senate.
“We now have more time for a better process,” said Cassidy. “I would like to think we could socialize it among our Democratic colleagues.”
Cassidy also said he hasn’t decided yet whether to support a new Obamacare deal brokered by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., but it “looks pretty good.” Under their proposal, cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments to insurance companies would continue for two more years, an idea that many conservatives are already opposing.
Cassidy said the new agreement is a heartening sign for bipartisanship for repeal. He said Democrats showed a willingness to make reforms to Obamacare in that deal, which gives states more flexibility from Obamacare regulations and expands catastrophic plans.
Republicans have said they plan to take up Obamacare repeal again after they finish tax reform and President Trump has shown an interest in bringing back up Cassidy’s earlier repeal bill also led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
