The Senate Republican spearheading a short-term Obamacare compromise shrugged off criticism from House conservatives Tuesday that it was a “bailout.”
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander on Tuesday pointed reporters to encouragement from President Trump to reach a deal with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to fund Obamacare insurer payments for two years. Reporters asked Alexander about remarks from the head of the Republican Study Committee, a group of 170 Republican House members, that called the deal a “bailout.”
“I appreciated President Trump’s encouragement and his recommendation that it was important to continue the cost-sharing payments for two years in order to avoid harming millions of Americans,” he said. “That is kind of comment that I welcome, and I think his support is important.”
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, called the deal a “bailout” and said the Senate should work instead on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Other House conservatives held their fire. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said the deal was a “good start” but more flexibility for states and consumers was needed to get conservative support.
Meadows is the head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has about 40 members, but was not speaking for the group. The caucus has not taken an official position on the deal, which has yet to be revealed except for the outline released Tuesday.
The bill would pay for two years of cost-sharing reduction payments, which reimburse insurers for lowering out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers on the individual market. The market includes Obamacare’s exchanges and is used by people who don’t have insurance through work or the government.
In exchange, the bill gives states more flexibility to waive Obamacare insurance regulations. The deal would expand the use of catastrophic “copper” plans that have high deductibles but lower premiums.
It also would let states get waivers from the federal government faster.
It would provide $105 million in Obamacare outreach funding, but most of it would be given out as block grants to states to let them decide how to spend it. That is different from the normal process in which the federal government directs outreach spending.
The Trump administration cut Obamacare ad funding for the 2018 enrollment period by 90 percent to $10 million and funding to nonprofit navigators by 40 percent to $30 million.
