Hardline conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has received assurances that the Obamacare overhaul bill contains no deal sweeteners meant to win over Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Multiple reports say that some key additions to the bill led by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are being added to earn the support of Murkowski, who has opposed other Obamacare repeal efforts.
Reports have said that Senate leadership is eyeing changes to the bill, such as keeping Obamacare’s tax credits and delaying Medicaid cuts for Alaska.
“Sen. Lee has been assured those reports are false,” Lee spokesman Conn Carroll told the Washington Examiner, but he did not elaborate on who did the assuring. The Daily Beast first reported the statement.
Lee was reacting to reports that new draft version of the overhaul bill would let Alaska and Hawaii keep Obamacare’s premium tax credits and delay implementation of a per capita cap system for Alaska and Hawaii for years, the Independent Journal Review. It would also give the states a higher matching rate in federal funding.
A per capita cap on Medicaid funding would provide Medicaid funds per beneficiary, instead of paying the funds per service.
Politico reported that the bill already lets a small number of states, including Alaska, opt out of the new Medicaid financing system. Other states that would get the delay would be sparsely populated Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.
The Obamacare overhaul bill would get rid of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in 2019. It plans to turn Obamacare funding for the expansion and the premium tax credits into block grants to let states create their own healthcare programs.
Murkowski has not decided whether she will support the new legislation, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to take up next week.
Lee has not made a decision either. He said he is encouraged by provisions in the bill that let states waive key Obamacare insurer regulations. Those regulations include barring insurers from charging sick people higher rates. Lee and other conservatives have said that regulation and other mandates have been key drivers in raising premiums across the country for Obamacare plans.
“Sen. Lee is encouraged by the waiver portions of the Graham-Cassidy bill and is working with Cassidy’s office on some technical changes,” Carroll said. “Until we see final text we cannot commit to anything.”
