Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., urged Senate Republican leadership to bring up an Obamacare stabilization deal for a vote as Obamacare open enrollment kicks off.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not brought up the legislation, which has 60 votes in the Senate, because President Trump opposes it. The legislation would fund Obamacare insurer payments that Trump cut off last month and are causing premiums to spike as high as 38 percent for some plans.
“There’s no reason to wait — there’s absolutely no excuse for inaction,” Murray said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said that initial bipartisan talks with Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the committee, were stymied in September as Republicans wanted another shot at repealing Obamacare. That effort failed after too many Republican senators defected.
“We were on the verge of reaching agreement when Republican leaders froze negotiations in order to try to jam Trumpcare through the Senate one more time,” Murray said.
The legislation released by Murray and Alexander last month would fund cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers for two years. The payments reimburse insurers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income enrollees on Obamacare’s exchanges.
Insurers are required to lower those costs. So, without the government payments they will raise premiums to recoup the costs. An estimate from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that premiums could rise between 7 to 38 percent for some plans next year.
The legislation would give states more flexibility to waive Obamacare regulations in exchange for the insurer payments for 2018 and 2019.
But McConnell has been reluctant to bring the bill up for a vote even though 12 Republicans are on board, enough to meet the 60 votes with all Democrats expected to support it.
Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan are opposed to it, calling the payments “bailouts” for the insurance industry.
