President Donald Trump and Republican leadership in Congress are signaling they cannot support the bipartisan proposal to shore up Obamacare and stabilize the health insurance markets through 2019, labeling it a “bailout” for insurance companies.
GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington released an initial draft of their bill to fix Obamacare late Tuesday evening. The bill would continue funding Obamacare subsidies, provide funding for the ACA’s navigator and outreach programs and fund basic health plans.
The president came out against the bill Wednesday morning.
“I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care,” the president tweeted Wednesday morning.
I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wants senators to focus on repealing Obamacare and making good on a seven year campaign promise.
“The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was unwilling to say whether or not he would support the bill, but has thrown his full weight behind the numerous repeal attempts in the Senate in 2017.
“We haven’t had a chance to think about a way forward yet,” McConnell told reporters at the Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said Wednesday that he would not vote for the bill if it comes up for a vote in the Senate and that he believes Alexander-Murray has “stalled out.”
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who voted against a number of Republican repeal attempts in 2017, has been a vocal opponent of anything that would be a bailout for insurance companies. Paul also worked closely with the president on his recent Obamacare executive order, which he says has “the potential to be amazing.”
Chairman of the Republican Study Committee Rep. Mark Walker joined the chorus of conservative voices crying out against the Alexander-Murray Wednesday.
“Obamacare is in a ‘death spiral.’ Anything propping it up is only saving what Republicans promised to dismantle,” Walker tweeted. “The GOP should focus on repealing & replacing Obamacare, not trying to save it. This bailout is unacceptable.”
Alexander-Murray is likely a response to a series of moves from the administration to upend Obamacare.
The Trump administration has argued that many of the Obamacare programs are merely an extravagant use of time and resources, including the navigator program. As such, the administration announced in September that it would cut some of the navigator program’s funding by as much as 90 percent.
Obamacare navigators are individuals that help consumers and businesses seek and obtain health insurance plans that meet their specific needs. They also provide outreach and educational assistance surrounding the health care marketplace.
The president also signed an executive order Thursday to expand access to health insurance plans that are outside of Obamacare regulations. The order relaxes the rules and regulations surrounding association health plans — groups of small businesses (and possibly individuals) that join together to purchase insurance. The order would also allow these groups to purchase insurance across state lines
The Trump administration announced late Thursday evening that it will no longer fund Obamacare subsidies. The federal government was slated to pay out around $7 billion in CSRs in 2017. Obamacare consumers saw their out-of-pocket costs lower by over $1,000 through these subsidies.
Congress could still act on the 2014 lawsuit and stymie Trump’s move. If they do not, Obamacare customers are likely to see their premiums and out-of-pocket costs soar in the future. Insurance providers caked in the possibility that Trump would stop these payments in their 2018 offerings, but the uncertainty is still very real for 2019.
THE ‘DAILY MARKOTA’ TAKES ON THE ACA, TRUMP WILL ‘USE POWER OF THE PEN’ TO FIX HEALTHCARE:
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