Sen. Bill Cassidy hinted Thursday Senate Republicans are working on a new provision that would help guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions as part of a bill that would repeal and replace Obamacare.
“Can you talk to me in two weeks? We are are working on something,” Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters.
He declined to share the details because he said he didn’t yet know whether the provision would work, but said that he has actuaries looking at it.
“I can’t tell you because maybe it’s just a dead end,” he said.
Cassidy and fellow centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced their own bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. It would allow states to keep portions of the law and provide them with the option of auto-enrolling people who are uninsured in a plan through use of a federally funded tax credit.
The Congressional Budget Office released a score Wednesday of the repeal bill, the American Health Care Act, passed earlier this month by the House. The score showed that in states that decide to undo certain Obamacare mandates for insurers, premiums would become prohibitively expensive for people with pre-existing illnesses.
Rather than take up the House bill, senators are working on their own.
“You have got to start with something … then you can come up with new ideas,” said Mike Rounds, R-S.D., answering questions about the CBO score.
Senators will begin drafting the bill’s language during the Memorial Day recess.
