Washington Times (DC)
March 8, 2018
Everyone in Washington wants to slash health insurance
premiums under Obamacare, but key players can't seem to agree on the terms,
leaving the push in jeopardy even as insurers try to size up the program and
set rates for the coming year.
The White House has a list of demands it says must be in
any bill Congress passes, including pro-life language that House Republicans
have sought.
Democrats, meanwhile, want to boost taxpayer subsidies and
allocate $100 million to promote the Affordable Care Act, hoping those changes
would entice customers back into Obamacare's exchanges.
With midterm elections looming in November, polling
suggests Republicans will take most of the blame if it rates go up.
Companies are expected to ask for price hikes this spring,
citing lagging interest in the exchanges and Republicans' decision to repeal
Obamacare's individual mandate, the law's main prod for herding more people
into the market.
"Premiums are heading up in 2019 with the individual
mandate being repealed, unless some intervention happens," said Larry
Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "Many
Republicans are resistant to doing anything that has the appearance of propping
up the ACA, while Democrats don't want too many strings attached to any effort
to stabilize the market and bring down premiums."
The impasse is bad news for several million people who buy
insurance on their own but don't qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies that
make premiums affordable.
Insurers hope Congress will tie action to a looming March
23 spending deadline, when lawmakers are expected to pass an omnibus bill to
fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.
"Congress has an important opportunity to act and
reduce premiums for consumers for 2019, but time is running short," the
top insurers' lobby, America's Health Insurance Plans, said in a letter to
House and Senate leaders this week.
Two bills are circulating.
One, negotiated by Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee
Republican and chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the
committee, would restore cost-sharing payments to help insurers cover poor
customers' out-of-pocket costs — something Democrats want. Republicans cheer
the bill's waiver system that would let states experiment more with
Obamacare-compliant plans.
The other bill, from Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine
Republican, and Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, would spend billions of dollars
in reinsurance money to subsidize extra-pricey customers.
"We've had very good conversations with the
administration," Ms. Collins said.
A White House document, first reported by The Wall Street
Journal, said efforts to use taxpayer dollars to prop up the markets must be
coupled with items that "provide relief to middle-class families harmed by
the law and protect life."
The administration would like to let insurers charge older
customers up to five times what they charge younger ones — instead of
Obamacare's 3-1 ratio.
It also wants to codify President Trump's regulatory push
to let insurers sell short-term insurance policies that last up to a year
instead of three months.
Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, introduced a bill
Wednesday that would do just that — and allow consumers to renew the plans,
which don't have to satisfy the 2010 law's strict coverage guidelines.
The White House says it supports restoring cost-sharing
payments that reimburse insurers for picking up low-income customers' costs,
though only if they aren't used to help subsidize plans that cover abortion.
"While the decision for its inclusion has not been
made, any appropriation for [cost-sharing] or reinsurance would need to be
Hyde-compliant. That is not negotiable for House Republicans," said AshLee
Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican,
referring to a recurring ban on using federal money for abortion.
The Republican Study Committee, an influential bloc of
conservatives, has resisted any attempt to bolster Obamacare at all.
"We should be focusing on keeping our promises to the
American people and repealing Obamacare, not stabilizing it," committee
spokesman Alexei Woltornist said Wednesday.
House Democrats whose votes could be needed to pass a
measure — should too many Republicans bail — have pushed back on pro-life
demands or attempts to chip away at Obamacare.
For now, they are waiting to see what Republicans are
willing to offer.
"We would like to get a number of these stabilization
initiatives in the omnibus, but that's all I can say," said Rep. Frank
Pallone Jr., New Jersey Democrat.
No comments:
Post a Comment