A Tone Shift On Capitol Hill As Lawmakers Try To Come Up With Bipartisan Health Solution
Republicans are now in the position to have to work with Democrats so make sure the marketplace doesn't collapse. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is holding four hearings to kick off those efforts. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump isn't ready to give up on repeal just yet.
The Associated Press:
Senators Seek Bipartisan Deal To Shore Up Insurance Markets
Senators want to forge a modest bipartisan deal for shoring up the nation's individual insurance markets. But lingering raw feelings over the Senate's failed attempt to obliterate the Obama health care law won't make the task any easier. The Senate health committee is holding the first of four scheduled health care hearings Wednesday. Testimony was planned from five states' insurance commissioners. (Fram, 9/6)
The Washington Post:
Senate Panel Begins Bipartisan Hearings To Try To Improve Affordable Care Act
Four hearings being held by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are part of a push by the panel’s top Republican and Democrat, who are racing to negotiate an agreement before the month ends. At the moment, however, the parties differ on specifics, and it remains uncertain whether any accord — even a narrow one — is possible. This circumscribed effort follows Senate Republicans’ dramatic failure in late July to overturn central parts of the ACA. The new effort may yield a practical bipartisan response acknowledging that the insurance exchanges — conduits to medical coverage for about 10 million Americans — will continue to exist. Or it could provide another piece of evidence that the ACA is so politically toxic that compromise on it eludes even the senators most open to collaboration on health policy. (Goldstein and Eilperin, 9/5)
NPR:
After Health Care Reform Efforts Fail, Republicans Look For Small Bipartisan Victories
Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., says he's looking to do something "small, bipartisan and balanced." What's remarkable is that he made that statement in a joint press release last month with the committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.Up until recently, all major Republican efforts to alter Obamacare were launched with no Democratic support, and no attempts to get any. (Kodjak, 9/5)
Politico:
Trump Wants One Last Senate Push On Obamacare Repeal
President Donald Trump and some Senate Republicans are refusing to give up on Obamacare repeal, even after this summer’s spectacular failure and with less than a month before a key deadline. The president and White House staff have continued to work with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana over the summer on their proposal to block grant federal health care funding to the states. And though the bill is being rewritten and Congress faces a brutal September agenda, Trump and his allies on health care are making a last-gasp effort. (Everett and Dawsey, 9/5)
The New York Times:
Democratic Group Plans Attacks On G.O.P. Efforts To Undermine Obama Health Care Law
For years, Republicans successfully battered Democrats for supporting the Affordable Care Act. But now, a coalition of Democratic organizations believes public opinion has swung their way, and they plan to spend the fall attacking President Trump and Republican lawmakers for attempting to undermine the success of a law that provides health insurance to millions of Americans. (Shear, 9/5)