Senators To Hold Bipartisan Hearings To Try To Protect Insurer Subsidies Threatened By Trump
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold sessions beginning the week of Sept. 4, in a bid to “stabilize and strengthen” the individual health insurance markets.
The Associated Press:
GOP Shows Signs Of Reaching Out To Democrats On Health Care
Republicans showed signs Tuesday of reaching out to Democrats for a joint if modest effort to buttress health insurance markets, four days after the GOP effort to unilaterally uproot and reshape the Obama health care law crumpled in the Senate. The Republican chairman of the Senate health committee, Tennessee's Lamar Alexander, said he'd seek bipartisan legislation extending for one year federal payments to insurers that help millions of low- and moderate-income Americans afford coverage. (8/1)
The New York Times:
Republicans In Congress Bypass Trump To Shore Up Health Law
In the House, two Republicans, Representatives Tom Reed of New York and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, teamed with Democrats to promote incremental health legislation that would also fund the cost-sharing subsidies. The moves were a remarkable response to the president’s repeated threats to send health insurance markets into a tailspin. They offered tangible indications of cooperation between the parties after Republican efforts to scrap the Affordable Care Act collapsed in the Senate last week, all but ending the seven-year Republican quest to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. Lawmakers from both parties concede that the health law needs improvement, as consumers face sharp premium increases and a shrinking number of insurance options in many states. (Pear and Kaplan, 8/1)
USA Today:
With Obamacare Repeal Stalled, Senate Panel To Focus On Stabilizing Insurance Market
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs, will hold hearings starting Sept. 4 “so that Americans will be able to buy affordable health insurance.” "If your house is on fire, you want to put out the fire, and the fire in this case is the individual health insurance market," Alexander said. (Gaudiano and Collins, 8/1)
NPR:
Lawmakers To Hold Hearings To Stabilize Insurance Markets
The next cost-sharing payments are due to be paid in a few weeks and the president has said he'll announce this week whether he'll pay the money or keep it in the Treasury. "In the absence of the CSR, the rate increases could be astonishing," says Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, which operates nonprofit hospitals and clinics and insures more than 800,000 people across Utah. (Kodjak, 8/1)
The New York Times:
‘Time To Move On’: Senate G.O.P. Flouts Trump After Health Care Defeat
Senate Republicans are not pretending to have missed the tweets anymore. They have abandoned well-worn phrases, like “growing pains” and “sea legs,” that sustained them through the endless winter and spring. And if a few months ago President Trump’s scattershot demands might have sent the chamber into a lather, compelling lawmakers to honor his megaphone, the collective shrugs at his rage over last week’s failed health care repeal vote have signaled a new phase in this shotgun marriage of unified Republican rule. (Flegenheimer and Kaplan, 8/1)
Modern Healthcare:
Trump's Threats To End Cost-Sharing Subsidies Could Lead To Premium Hikes And Litigation
Even though Senate Republicans' push to repeal the Affordable Care Act fizzled out last week, health insurers are still grappling with uncertainty over whether the federal government will continue to fund crucial subsidies that help low-income Americans pay for health coverage. Insurers and lobbying groups have warned over the last few months that premiums will increase if the cost-sharing reduction subsidies go unfunded in 2018. Now the Trump administration could also face new litigation if it fails to make the subsidy payments, as President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to do. (Livingston, 8/1)