A bipartisan effort to stabilize the individual health insurance markets appears to be falling apart — polarized by the politics of abortion. The effort — led by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee — was on track to be included in a broad spending bill set for votes this week.
Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health Committee, worked with the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. Their proposal includes money to help states insure their sickest residents and restores subsidies to insurance companies that President Trump terminated. Alexander has spent months pushing for a vote, viewing this as a last chance before insurers set their rates for next year. He's appealing to voters.
"We want them to know we have a proposal that will lower your rates by 40 percent," Alexander said at a Capitol Hill press conference flanked by Republican lawmakers. "And we'd like for them to be able to see who voted for that and who voted against that."
In recent days, House Democrats have rejected the final version because the fine print could bar private insurance plans from covering abortions. Sen. Murray accused Republicans of taking the stabilization bill "hostage."
"To me that is just unacceptable," Murray told the Associated Press. "Why would they add it on at the last minute?"
Today, I along w/ @SenatorCollins, @LindseyGrahamSC, @SenatorRounds, @SenatorIsakson, @lisamurkowski, @repgregwalden and @RepRyanCostello held a press conference to discuss proposed legislation that would lower health insurance rates in the individual market up to 40%. pic.twitter.com/aWoWswsSAa— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) March 21, 2018
Republicans say the language is standard and has been included in spending bills going back to the late 1970s. They accuse Democrats of setting up a situation where on October 1, when insurance rates are finalized, they can accuse the majority party of being responsible for a massive increase in premiums.
"I've never been more disappointed in my Democratic colleagues," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said. "If we can't do this, I'm not so sure we'll be able to do anything constructive in the future."
Republicans expected resistance would come from the conservative Freedom Caucus, not Democrats. They're hoping the House will reconsider inclusion of the proposal in a government spending bill. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, has not made public whether he would support the stabilization plan.
The legislation could also be brought up on its own, but Alexander says that might run into the same resistance and take too long to reduce insurance rates for the coming year.
Copyright 2018 WPLN News
