Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that if Republicans fail to reach an agreement on a healthcare bill to partially repeal and replace Obamacare, they will have to work with Democrats to fix the exchanges.
“If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to private health insurance markets must occur,” the Kentucky Republican said at a Rotary Club meeting in Kentucky, according to the Associated Press.
Senate Republicans have been unable to agree on a healthcare bill that would repeal and replace portions of Obamacare. The bill that has been drafted, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, concerns centrists because projections from the Congressional Budget Ofice show it would increase the number of uninsured by 22 million by 2026 and would make deep cuts to Medicaid. Conservatives, meanwhile, are concerned that the bill does not do enough to repeal Obamacare and to reduce premiums. Moving the bill to the right or to the left could reduce support from the other faction.
McConnell last week called off a planned vote on the bill after it became clear that it did not have enough support for passage. Republicans are moving the legislation forward through reconciliation, which requires only 50 votes, assuming a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence. Still, Republicans have a narrow margin for passage and cannot afford to lose more than two votes because no Democrat will support the legislation.
The health insurance exchanges, created under Obamacare, are set to be in effect next year. Insurers have requested double-digit rate increases in many states, and some counties are facing the prospect of having no insurer to buy coverage from next year. The Republican healthcare bill contains funding to stabilize the exchanges, and McConnell suggested Thursday that if Republicans fail to pass a bill they would have to rescue the exchanges.
“No action is not an alternative,” McConnell said. “We’ve got the insurance markets imploding all over the country, including in this state.”
Republicans have said that the exchanges are struggling because Obamacare doesn’t work. Democrats have blamed the Trump administration for introducing uncertainty into the exchanges by not guaranteeing to pay Obamacare’s insurance payments, called cost-sharing reductions. Insurers have blamed the uncertainty but also the fact that too few young, healthy people have signed up for the plans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that Democrats were eager to work with Republicans to stabilize the exchanges and improve the law.
“It’s encouraging that Sen. McConnell today acknowledged that the issues with the exchanges are fixable, and opened the door to bipartisan solutions to improve our healthcare system,” he said. “At the top of the list should be ensuring cost sharing payments are permanent, which will protect healthcare for millions.”
