Conservative lawmakers want any bipartisan effort to stabilize Obamacare’s markets to include flexibility on the law’s requirement that people buy insurance or pay a penalty.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is set to address Republicans at a caucus lunch Tuesday on the bipartisan deal he is working on with Sen. Patty Murray, R-Wash. Alexander has been working to reach a deal to pay insurer subsidies in exchange for giving states more flexibility with Obamacare’s regulations.
Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is likely to face major skepticisnm when he gives his update.
“I have seen the other side absolutely for the [cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers] and not much else and that is unacceptable,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told the Washington Examiner.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been blasting the bipartisan talks, still smarting that the party’s efforts to repeal Obamacare have collapsed. Cruz called the CSRs, which reimburse insurers for lowering co-pays and deductibles for low-income Obamacare customers, bailouts that benefit only insurance companies.
He also criticized the individual mandate penalty charged to people who don’t have insurance.
“Millions of Americans find themselves being fined by the IRS because they can’t afford health insurance, because premiums skyrocketed so high,” he said.
Cruz’s counterparts in the House also have been skeptical of any deal.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he has been working with some senators on how to address the cost-sharing reduction payments.
“Based on what is being discussed right now, I don’t know if there could be enough waivers to warrant an extension of the CSR payments,” said Meadows, head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Reporters asked Meadows if the individual mandate penalty had to be on the table.
“If there are waivers for catastrophic plans or things of that nature, if that is considered a waiver for the individual mandate, then it would have to be on the table,” he responded.
House Speaker Paul Ryan told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a few weeks ago that House Republicans don’t support any bipartisan deal. The White House also signaled its opposition, leading to the collapse of bipartisan talks.
Democrats charged that the talks were scuttled because Republicans wanted to make a last-minute attempt to overhaul Obamacare. That effort failed after a bill led by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was shelved because too many Republican senators didn’t support it.
Alexander and Murray resumed their bipartisan talks soon after the collapse of Graham-Cassidy on Sept. 26.
Democrats have been reticent to add more flexibility to waivers for fear it could lead to states to reduce coverage in general as well as protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Democrats say time is running out to get a deal, as insurers are finalizing rates for 2018. They have criticized President Trump for neglecting to commit to the cost-sharing payments for 2018 and point to comments that Trump has made to let Obamacare “implode.”
“Time is of the essence,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “The president has been pouring gasoline on the fires of uncertainty in the private marketplace and it really takes a toll particularly in the individual market.”
