Some Republican senators are hoping for a quick turnaround of its own version of legislation to repeal Obamacare, but major differences over Medicaid cuts already have become early sticking points.
A commission of 13 senators tasked with drafting their own bill is expected to meet this week, with some Republicans hoping they make quick work of the chamber’s own Obamacare replacement plan. The panel was created last week after the House passed the American Health Care Act by a 217-213 margin. The Senate aims to use some ideas from the House bill.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Monday the committee has a “sense of urgency” to put legislation together because Americans who use the individual market are facing increasing premiums. The individual market is for people who don’t get their insurance through their employers and includes Obamacare’s exchanges.
“In the next several weeks we need to come up with ways to make sure to rescue these Americans,” said Alexander, who is the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was more specific. Grassley, who isn’t on the panel, said he wants to send a bill to President Trump by June 19, when insurers have to submit 2018 rates for Obamacare plans for 38 states and the District of Columbia.
Other senators were more cautious about putting a timeframe on the task ahead of them.
“This is a process where we shouldn’t have an artificial timeline or artificial deadline to work together to solve the underlying problem, which is how do you make health insurance more affordable across the country,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the panel.
The Senate will be working with a much smaller margin than the House, which could afford 22 GOP defections. The GOP-controlled Senate can afford only two defections.
That means the legislation needs to be moderate enough to get centrists on board.
A major sticking point will be changes to Medicaid, specifically what happens to low-income people who got access to health coverage through Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
“We need to make sure these folks have access permanently under this or through some other kind of way,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a state that expanded Medicaid. “We can’t just drop them off and wish them good luck.”
The AHCA would keep the Medicaid expansion in place until 2020 and then gives states the option of adopting a block grant or per capita cap for federal funding. Under a block grant, a state receives a fixed amount of funding. Under per-capita caps, funding is provided based on the number of a state’s Medicaid beneficiaries.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, echoed Capito’s comments on protecting people affected by the expansion.
“I gotta figure out a way to make sure that the fine people of Alaska who have seen the benefits of Medicaid expansion” don’t get the rug pulled from underneath them, she said.
Washington Examiner reporter Al Weaver contributed to this report.
