Republican Senator: ‘I Don’t See A Comprehensive Health Care Plan This Year’
Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) paints a pessimistic picture of the upper chamber's chances of moving forward on health care when members get back from recess. Meanwhile, some lawmakers mull over taxing employer-sponsored health plans, but that idea would meet fierce resistance from companies. And past promises to lower premiums may come back haunt senators.
The Wall Street Journal:
Republican Senator Says Deal On Health Care Unlikely This Year
Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) said that the Senate probably won’t reach a deal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act when it returns from a recess next week, in a stark assessment of the party’s health-care prospects. “It’s unlikely that we will get a health-care deal,” Mr. Burr told WXII 12 News, a North Carolina news station, on Thursday. He said that the House-passed GOP health plan was “dead on arrival,” and that “I don’t see a comprehensive health-care plan this year.” (Hughes, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
GOP Senators Weigh Taxing Employer-Health Plans
Senate Republicans set on reworking the Affordable Care Act are considering taxing employer-sponsored health insurance plans, a move that would meet stiff resistance from companies and potentially raise taxes on millions of people who get coverage on the job. The move could raise billions in revenue that could be used to help stabilize the fragile individual insurance market. But it could be politically risky, since it could expand the impact of GOP health proposals from Medicaid recipients and those who buy insurance on their own to the roughly 177 million people who get coverage through their employers. (Armour and Peterson, 6/1)
Politico Pro:
GOP Could Be Haunted By Pledge To Lower Health Premiums
Senate Republicans may be all over the map on an Obamacare repeal plan, but on one fundamental point — reducing insurance premiums — they are in danger of overpromising and under-delivering. The reality is they have only a few ways to reduce Americans’ premiums: Offer consumers bigger subsidies. Allow insurers to offer skimpier coverage. Or permit insurers to charge more — usually much more — to those with pre-existing illnesses and who are older and tend to rack up the biggest bills. (Haberkorn, 6/1)
In news related to Medicaid expansion —
The Wall Street Journal:
How Proposed Spending Caps To Medicaid Are Calculated
In his first full budget proposal, President Donald Trump advocates changing the way the federal government funds Medicaid. The fiscal 2018 budget, released last week, was short on details but endorses a bill passed last month by the U.S. House of Representatives that would restrict Medicaid spending for the first time since the program started in 1965. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health insurance for 77 million poor and low-income people. It cost the federal government $368 billion last year, or about 9% of the national budget. Based on spending, it is the third largest domestic program behind Social Security and Medicare. (McGinty, 6/2)
Huffington Post:
The Fate Of 16.8 Million Medicaid Enrollees Rests On 20 GOP Senators From 14 States
Whatever happens next with Obamacare repeal and the future of Medicaid will depend in large measure on whether GOP senators choose to fight for the combined 16.8 million of their constituents on Medicaid, including 4.3 million who gained Medicaid coverage because of the Affordable Care Act, according to data from state agencies compiled by HuffPost. ... More than 30 percent of those living in Sen. John Kennedy’s Louisiana, Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton’s Arkansas, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul’s Kentucky are Medicaid beneficiaries. More than one-fifth of those living in eight of the other states with Republicans senators are enrolled in Medicaid. (Young and Scheller, 6/2)