Four Republican senators proposed an Obamacare replacement Monday that could keep more parts of the law in place than other plans from their GOP colleagues.
Under the three-pronged proposal, states could keep the law’s main tenets in place, replace its subsidies and Medicaid expansion with money that goes directly to tax-free health savings accounts or design their own health reform without any federal assistance.
Co-sponsors Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins expressed hopes that some Democrats might support the measure, since it would allow states to keep the Affordable Care Act in place if they like it, but allow states to replace it with other reforms if they prefer.
“I think what we’re doing is moving the locus of repeal to state governments,” Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said Monday.
Cassidy said he thinks his Obamacare repeal-and-replace approach is the most likely of any to get support from Democrats, which Republicans will need if they’re going to replace the healthcare law through the normal legislating process requiring 60 Senate votes to pass.
“At some point in this process we’re going to need a bill that gets 60 votes,” Cassidy said. “If you can say to a blue state senator who is invested in supporting Obamacare, ‘you can keep Obamacare but don’t force it on us,’ we think that will help us get to 60.”
Other co-sponsors include Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
The plan initially would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s mandates and insurer regulations, which require coverage and govern how plans can set rates. States could reinstate those provisions if they choose, or they could choose from the other two options, to either get federal dollars to use for health savings accounts or go at health reform on their own without federal support.
“By giving states options they can tailor to meet the needs of their citizens, I am hopeful we have come up with a proposal that could attract bipartisan support,” Collins said.
Despite the hopes expressed by Collins and Cassidy, the top Senate Democrat and several liberal-leaning groups quickly criticized the plan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “an empty facade that would create chaos — not care — for millions of Americans.”
“Under their proposal … millions of Americans would be kicked off their plans, out-of-pocket costs and deductibles for consumers would skyrocket, employer-based coverage for working families would be disrupted, and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer, would be gutted,” Schumer said.
“It is nearly impossible to keep the benefits of the Affordable Care Act without keeping the whole thing,” he said.
Long-time health coverage advocate Ron Pollack, director of Families USA, said the measure isn’t “a true replacement bill.”
“It falls way short of providing the protections and coverage people have under the Affordable Care Act,” Pollack said.
