The pro-Obamacare group Families USA opposes the latest Republican proposal to fund the law, and argued Friday it ultimately would make customers worse off.
“If this is the best package Congress can design, we encourage lawmakers to reject this proposal,” the group wrote in a blog post.
It’s not clear that the proposal, from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has enough votes for passage, though Republican leaders have said they would like to see it included in a long-term spending bill expected this month. Though the latest plan contains a boost in funding for Obamacare, Democrats have said they oppose it because it would include the Hyde Amendment, a law that prohibits federal funds from paying for abortions, with limited exemptions.
Families USA opposed the amendment as well as other provisions.
The newest proposal would boost reinsurance funds, which pay for medical costs of the sickest enrollees and lower premiums, and cost-sharing reduction funds, which help insurers offer lower out-of-pocket costs.
The funds for the package initially agreed upon for reinsurance amounted to $10 billion for two years, and the latest proposal would boost the fund to $30 billion spread out over three years. Previous versions of the bill called for two years of funding for cost-sharing reduction subsidies, but the latest plan provides three years.
An analysis released by consultant Oliver Wyman found that those areas, taken together, would reduce premiums by 40 percent for people who buy Obamacare plans, meaning those who do not get medical coverage through a job or through a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid.
Families USA supports the reinsurance funds but wrote in a blog post that “the summary’s claims of substantially reduced premiums are, at best, misleading and at worst, simply incorrect.” After President Trump ended cost-sharing payments, states changed the way that they structured medical plans so that people who received subsidies would pay significantly less for coverage, an ultimate outcome that Families USA has said was positive for that specific group of people.
Families USA opposes the Republican requests in the bill as well, which include increasing access to “copper plans” that have lower premiums and higher deductibles, as well as giving states more flexibility for implementing Obamacare.
