Several Republican senators were skeptical about starting back up bipartisan talks to stabilize Obamacare’s markets soon after their latest repeal effort collapsed.
The GOP on Tuesday scrapped a plan to vote on an Obamacare overhaul bill because it lacked the votes. Though Democrats argued for reviving bipartisan talks that had been taking place between Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., several Republican senators were skeptical about pumping more money into Obamacare without broader reforms.
“We have to do more than just throw more money at the status quo,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. Cassidy was one of the four co-sponsors of the overhaul bill alongside Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Dean Heller of Nevada and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Cassidy was very doubtful that a narrow deal to stabilize the law’s exchanges would get enough support.
“Whatever my vote is you are not going to get enough votes in the Republican side to make this happen,” he said.
Last week, talks between Murray and Alexander collapsed after the White House and House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly opposed any bipartisan bill. The senators were working on a narrow deal that funded subsidies for Obamacare insurers in exchange for more state flexibility from the law’s regulations.
The subsidies reimburse insurers for lowering copays and deductibles for low-income Obamacare customers on the individual market, which includes the law’s exchanges and is used by people that don’t get insurance via their job.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that premiums would rise by an average of 20 percent next year without the payments.
Some Republicans want to revive the bipartisan talks in hopes of getting a new deal.
“I believe that offers great promise for stabilizing the insurance markets and helping to lower premiums,” said centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, whose opposition helped kill Graham-Cassidy along with every other Republican effort to repeal, replace, or overhaul Obamacare.
Johnson has been calling for payment of the insurer subsidies since May. He said on Tuesday after the bill’s collapse that Americans would have to contribute more in premium tax credits if the payments aren’t made and premiums rise, since the tax credits go up with any premium hikes.
But he understood the hesitation among his colleagues for pursuing a bipartisan deal.
“It is a legitimate point of view of my colleagues and the White House saying we don’t want to throw more money at a completely failed and collapsing system,” he said.
Members of GOP leadership were open to the idea of continuing talks.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the third-ranking GOP senator, said that he hopes that the bipartisan talks continue.
“I know there are some things that have to be done to stabilize markets,” he said.
Sen John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said that he believed the meetings between Alexander and Murray would continue.
Barrasso declined to say whether he was open to a compromise, saying that he needed to see a proposal that would adequately provide flexibility to states.
“I’m not supportive of a direct continuation of those payments unless there is some agreement that we can actually get more flexibility at home,” he said. “I want to get the power and money out of Washington and back to the states.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the GOP announcement about the healthcare bill that he hoped the bipartisan talks would resume, calling Alexander and Murray “two good, terrific negotiators.””I believe left to themselves, without anyone putting pressure on them not to do it, it can happen and happen quickly,” Schumer said. However, he said that it may be hard to do reforms to the law because Democrats aren’t going to be interested in that.
Alexander said in a statement that he will talk with Murray and other senators about reviving talks for a narrow bipartisan deal.
“I’m still concerned about the next two years and Congress has an opportunity to slow down premium increases in 2018, begin to lower them in 2019, and do our best to make sure there are no counties where people have zero options to buy health insurance,” he said in a statement.
Washington Examiner senior healthcare writer Kimberly Leonard contributed to this report.
