Congress this week will start a bipartisan process of considering ways to fix problems with rising premiums and dwindling health insurance options that Obamacare customers are facing in 2018, just weeks after it failed to repeal parts of the law over the summer.
In a series of hearings that will begin Wednesday, members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will start meeting with health insurance groups, health policy experts, governors and health insurance commissioners to try to arrive at an agreement on these key issues of premiums and choice.
It’s a dramatic shifting of gears for Republicans, who spent months in 2017 trying to push through an Obamacare repeal bill on its own, without any help from Democrats.
Lawmakers are hoping to come up with a plan by Sept. 27 in order to make an impact on premiums, which must be agreed upon between states and insurers. In many states, insurers filed several proposed rates that are contingent on what happens in Congress.
Several states are facing double-digit increases on gross premiums unless Congress acts, while other states are facing such hikes either way, if states approve their proposals.
“Democrats and Republicans actually agree on many solutions when it comes to stabilizing markets and preventing premium increases,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote Tuesday in an op-ed published in the Washington Post. “Rather than wasting time on issues that divide us, we should prioritize finding common ground and moving the ball in the right direction.”
Though HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander has said he’s optimistic about the prospect of arriving at a bipartisan agreement, some divisions are becoming apparent, even within strictly Democratic and Republican circles.
Among them are whether and how long to fund subsidies to insurance companies that help them lower out-of-pocket costs for consumers and what degree of flexibility to allow states in crafting their own plans.
Murray wrote in the op-ed that the plan should include a public option and reinsurance funding that helps prop up Obamacare insurers by covering sickest claims.
Alexander told reporters Tuesday he wants to fund the cost-sharing insurer subsidies for only 2018 and give states more flexibility to make changes to the individual market. So far, he hasn’t shown an inclination to add more funding for reinsurance.
It’s unclear whether senators will be able to arrive at an agreement or whether the proposal could pass the House and be signed into law by President Trump.
Alexander said that he hasn’t spoken with anyone in the House on the prospects of a bipartisan deal. He hopes to get an agreement through the Senate by the end of the month.
Republicans aimed in July to pass a bill to repeal and replace portions of Obamacare along party lines and couldn’t come to an agreement after falling short by one vote.
Repeal could still be an option. A group of GOP Senators including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Dean Heller of Nebraska are supporting resuscitating efforts at repealing and replacing portions of Obamacare through an amendment that would transfer roughly $500 billion in Obamacare revenue to states so they can craft their own plans.
