“Our legislation is based on the four bipartisan hearings and other meetings that our committee held last month and engaged nearly 60 senators,” Alexander said. “According to witnesses at our hearings and according to the Congressional Budget Office, without these cost-sharing reduction payments, premiums will rise, the debt will increase by $194 billion over ten years, and up to 16 million Americans may find themselves living in counties where no company sells insurance in the individual market.”
Alexander continued: “Witnesses also testified that one way to lower costs for consumers is to give states more flexibility than the Affordable Care Act now allows to design health insurance plans give consumers more choices. We have purposely limited our proposal to these two things -- first, two years of temporary cost-sharing payments, and, second, amendments that would give states meaningful flexibility in using section 1332 innovation waiver that is already a part of the Affordable Care Act.”
“Only about six percent of Americans get their insurance in the individual market. It’s about 18 million people, but every single one of them finds their health insurance important, and every single one of them is terrified by the skyrocketing premiums and possibility that they may not able to buy insurance at all if we don't act. The best course is to take this limited bipartisan first step that to avoid the chaos that could occur during 2018 and 2019 if premiums continue to skyrocket and millions of Americans find themselves without a way to purchase health insurance.”
“Imagine yourself, a 45-year-old songwriter in Tennessee who loses her job, has three kids, and goes out into the individual market and finds out she can't buy health insurance because no company is offering it. If we do not act, this is the kind of consequence we are talking about.”
“Senator Murray and I hope that we can present this legislation to Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer, with the support of a significant number of senators. We hope that it will pass, the House of Representatives will agree to it, and the president will sign it. I have had encouraging discussions with President Trump, who called me on two different occasions encouraging me to work with Senator Murray to come to a bipartisan agreement. I'm grateful to him for that encouragement and I'm grateful to her.”
Sen. Murray has been fighting for a bipartisan path forward on health care for months. Since the start of the year, she has met with countless patients and doctors at hospitals and community health centers across Washington state to gain valuable insight, and she was pleased to invite Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to testify at a recent Senate hearing.
In her speech today on the Senate floor, Sen. Murray applauded efforts by Senators—on both sides of the aisle—to reach an agreement: “I hope [this] will set the health care discussion in Congress on a very different path than the one we’ve seen for the last seven years.”
Bipartisan Policy Center Senior Vice President Bill Hoagland and Health Policy Director Katherine Hayes made the following statement:
“We applaud the tireless efforts of Sens. Alexander and Murray to reach bipartisan agreement on a near-term insurance market stabilization proposal. Earlier this week, the administration notified insurers that the government will no longer make payments to cover the cost of cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) that insurers must provide to lower-income enrollees. Under the law, insurance companies are required to waive or reduce deductibles and co-pays for lower-income Americans enrolled in the insurance marketplaces. The payments to insurers are designed to cover those costs. Without these payments, health plans will increase premiums for all Americans, including middle-income families whose health insurance premiums have become increasingly unaffordable in some marketplaces. Likewise, many states are working to address the premium increase just two weeks before open enrollment in the marketplace begins on November 1.
“We are encouraged that these leaders have come together to address the real near-term challenges that millions of Americans, and state governments, are facing to access affordable health insurance coverage. We know this was not an easy compromise. Swift congressional action on this package could help pave the way for broader, fundamental reforms to health care in America. We believe those reforms can and should be made in a bipartisan basis, and our group of 10 is working to reach our own consensus on the parameters of legislation we believe could be advanced with broad, bipartisan support next year.
“Key components of the bipartisan compromise in the Senate include an authorization of funding for the CSR payments through health plans for years 2018 and 2019. In addition, the proposal provides flexibility to states to make health plans more affordable by offering a lower-cost ‘copper plan,’ a ‘catastrophic’ policy designed to help offset costs for those with very high medical expenses. Finally, the proposal would offer additional flexibility requested by states to pursue other options to make health insurance more affordable. These short-term proposals announced today share many similarities with proposals released by our group in September. We hope this compromise will pave the way for longer-term solutions.”
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