A House committee on Thursday voted to advance an amendment to the Obamacare repeal bill that would create high-risk pools and risk sharing to help pay for the care of states’ sickest, most costly patients.
The motion, added to the American Health Care Act, was passed 9-2 along party lines and viewed as an effort to garner support from centrist Republicans after conservatives began discussing the possibility of allowing states to waive Obamacare mandates that prohibit insurance companies from shifting costs to sicker patients.
When the meeting was held, Most House lawmakers had already left Washington for their two-week recess. Republicans began the meeting by saying that discussing the amendment Thursday would allow them to bring the proposal home to their constituents and gauge reactions.
But Democrats said the process had been rushed and that members had not had enough time to read the amendment, which they received earlier in the day.
“This whole process represents a complete lack of order,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. The amendment includes $15 billion for states over nine years for high-risk pools, which allow for sicker patients to get subsidized coverage from a state. Before the Affordable Care Act passed, 30 states had high-risk pools, but they became obsolete because the healthcare law forced insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said the amendment was not enough to enlist his support for the American Health Care Act, saying it hands over “more power to the federal government to dictate what states have to do to get this money.”
The White House is reportedly working on other updates to the bill, including allowing states to request waivers from the federal government to opt out of certain Obamacare mandates.
