Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said a short-term spending deal to fund the government into January would not include two bills aimed at stabilizing Obamacare’s markets.
The absence means Collins will not get her stated promise of having both bills signed into law by the end of the year.
Collins and Alexander said it has “become clear that Congress will only be able to pass another short-term extension to prevent a government shutdown and to continue a few essential programs.”
So the two senators asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not to offer the legislation this week.
But they are still hoping for a vote early next year.
“It looks like the Christmas present of lower health insurance premiums will now have to be a Valentine’s Day present,” Alexander said.
McConnell and President Trump gave Collins a commitment to get the bills signed into law by the end of the year. Collins sought the bills to blunt the impact of premium increases from repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate in the tax legislation, which is being sent to Trump’s desk.
Collins supported the tax bill after getting the commitments and after several amendments she was advocating were included in the final bill.
However, the agreement never included House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has been reticent to bring up the two bills. House Republicans are largely opposed to the legislation because they say it props up a failing system.
The Senate had expected to add the two bills to any spending deal the House sent over. However, that idea has been nixed.
Another wrinkle is opposition from Democrats, who in October unanimously supported legislation that would fund Obamacare insurer payments for two years in exchange for more flexibility for states to waive the law’s regulations.
“The Senate Democratic leader said on Tuesday that Democrats would not support it in the current environment even though as recently as October he said that all Democrats would,” Alexander and Collins said in a joint statement.
House Republicans have objected to the prospect of having to vote on the Obamacare bills. But Collins was optimistic after speaking with Ryan Wednesday.
“This afternoon Speaker Paul Ryan called me and said that the House remains committed to passing legislation to provide for high-risk pools and other reinsurance mechanisms similar to the bipartisan legislation I have introduced,” she said.
Collins and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sponsored legislation to give states $10 billion in funding over two years to set up reinsurance programs which cover the highest medical claims from Obamacare insurers. The program could lead to lower premiums, and a recent analysis said that the bill could offset the expected 10 percent premium hikes from losing the individual mandate that everyone buy insurance.
Ryan told Collins that by waiting until next year, Congress could use a new baseline from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for determining the impact of losing the individual mandate.
The CBO has said that repealing the mandate would mean 13 million people would forgo insurance over the next decade. However, it is now looking at its baseline and methodology for determining the coverage estimate, and a new estimate won’t be available until early next year.
