Senators Kick Off Efforts To Find Elusive Compromise On Health Care At Cordial Hearing
Democrats will have to agree to something — more flexibility for states — that some may be reluctant to support. And Republicans will have to agree to something, additional funding through the Affordable Care Act, that some may be reluctant to support. That is called a compromise," Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said. State insurance commissioners spoke at the session, urging Congress to continue funding subsidies for insurers.
The New York Times:
Work Toward Bipartisan Fix For Health Markets Begins In Senate
The chairman of the Senate health committee said Wednesday that he hoped the panel would reach a consensus by the end of next week on a small, bipartisan bill to stabilize health insurance markets and prevent prices from skyrocketing next year under the Affordable Care Act. “The blame will be on every one of us, and deservedly so,” if senators fail to reach agreement, said the chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. (Pear, 9/6)
The Associated Press:
GOP, Dem Senators Calmly Discuss Bolstering Obama Health Law
Republicans and Democrats serenely discussed ways to curb premium increases for individual insurance policies on Wednesday at a Senate hearing that veered away from years of fierce partisanship over the failed GOP effort to revoke President Barack Obama's health care law. Senators and state insurance commissioners from both parties embraced the idea of continuing billions in federal subsidies to insurers for reducing out-of-pocket expenses for millions of people, flouting President Donald Trump's oft-repeated threats to halt those payments. (Fram, 9/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Senators Discuss Bipartisan Approach To Repair Obamacare
Mr. Alexander’s proposal, laid out at the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing, would formally authorize subsidy payments to insurers and loosen requirements governing the law’s state waivers. Mr. Alexander hopes to pass legislation with the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, before the end of the month, when insurers must sign contracts to participate in next year’s markets. (Hackman, 9/6)
The Washington Post:
A GOP Senate Leader Calls For Bipartisan Compromise On ACA Marketplaces
The set of ideas advocated in a large, crowded hearing room amount to a strategy to slow recent spikes in premium rates by some health plans sold on ACA marketplaces and to expand consumers’ choices given major insurers’ defections from some marketplaces. The ideas track the basic contours of changes being touted by Republicans or Democrats — though not necessarily by both — on the HELP committee. (Goldstein and Eilperin, 9/6)
Los Angeles Times:
In The Face Of Major Premium Hikes, State Insurance Regulators Urge Congress To Act Quickly
State officials — both Republican and Democratic — urged lawmakers to maintain the federal funding that subsidizes poor customers’ deductibles and co-pays, even as the president continues to threaten to withhold that aid. And they called on Congress to move quickly in the face of mounting warnings from health insurers that without congressional action by the end of September, consumers will face major premium hikes next year. “Uncertainty destabilizes the market,” Lori Wing-Heier, Alaska’s nonpartisan insurance regulator, told senators at the Senate health committee. (Levey, 9/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health-Care Sign-Up Groups Brace For Enrollment Challenge
Democrats and activists are trying to promote the Affordable Care Act’s open-enrollment period and raise money for outreach following a Trump administration decision to cut millions of dollars from programs that help people sign up for health coverage. That outside effort, unfolding alongside a push on Capitol Hill to restore some of the funds, includes more than 1,500 volunteers organizing on social-media sites such as Facebook under the name Indivisible ACA Signup Project, seeking to promote the open-enrollment season beginning Nov. 1. (Armour, 9/6)