Senators walked off the floor around 2 a.m…
Senators walked off the floor around 2 a.m. Friday after the stunning defeat of a seven-years-long pledge to repeal and replace ObamaCare, leaving the lawmakers to face one inevitable question: whats next for healthcare reform?
Three main answers emerged — bipartisan committee work, stabilizing the insurance markets and administration action to change the healthcare law.
One track is letting the Senate health committee’s chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander Lamar Alexander Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure Senate defeats ObamaCare repeal measure Overnight Healthcare: Senate rejects repeal-only ObamaCare plan | Ads target Heller, Capito over vote | Dem says ObamaCare repeal effort moving US ‘toward single-payer’ MORE (R-Tenn.) , and top Democrat, Patty Murray Patty Murray Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure Senate defeats ObamaCare repeal measure GAO looking into improper HHS healthcare tweets MORE (D-Wash.) , work on fixes to the healthcare system in committee, according to Sen. John Thune John Thune Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure Senate defeats ObamaCare repeal measure McCain kills GOP’s ‘skinny’ ObamaCare repeal plan MORE (R-S. D.) .
“We’re not adverse to that, ” Thune, the No. 3 Republican, said. “I just don’ t have high hopes that we’re going to get anything that really solves the problems that we think exist with ObamaCare today.”
Alexander has previously said that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee will hold hearings in the next few weeks to explore stabilizing the individual market — and that the hearings would happen “however the votes come out on the Senate healthcare bill.”
In a statement early Friday morning, Murray said she looks forward to bipartisan hearings and more discussions.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Murkowski Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure Trump blasts lawmakers for voting down ‘skinny’ ObamaCare repeal Senate defeats ObamaCare repeal measure MORE (R-Alaska) — one of three Republicans to vote against skinny repeal — said she talked to Alexander on the floor, and he is already putting committee staff to work.
He said in a statement early Friday morning that it was urgent something be done to help the individual market.
“Tennessee’s state insurance commissioner says our individual insurance market is very near collapse, ” Alexander said.
“Unless Congress acts, many of the 350,000 Tennesseans who buy health insurance in that market—songwriters, farmers, the self-employed—face the real prospect of having zero options to buy insurance in 2018 and 2019.”
From the get-go, some senators have called for a bipartisan process, frustrated with how leadership crafted the repeal-and-replace bill behind closed doors.
Sen. Ron Johnson Ron Johnson Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure McCain kills GOP’s ‘skinny’ ObamaCare repeal plan Senate heading for late night ahead of ObamaCare repeal showdown MORE (R-Wis.) has been chief among.
“I’ve already talked to my ranking member, and we’re already starting to lay out a hearing schedule, just laying out basic problem-solving process, ” said Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Mitch McConnell Lawmakers look forward after ObamaCare repeal failure McConnell: ‘Time to move on’ after healthcare defeat Senate defeats ObamaCare repeal measure MORE (R-Ky.) at times looked emotional as he called the defeat “clearly a disappointing moment” and said “it’s time to move on.”
He also challenged Democrats, who themselves are likely not unified on an approach to healthcare, to find a solution.
“So now I think it’s appropriate to ask what are their ideas, ” McConnell said. “It would be interesting to see what they suggest as the way forward.”
Democrats are split on an approach, with some supporting a single-payer, government-funded system.
Healthcare has been contentious and bitterly partisan for more than seven years, and relationships would have to be repaired if the two parties are to work together.
“I think that’s part of the challenge because it has been such a polarizing issue for so long, ” Thune said, “and part of that is just fundamentally different approaches and directions and visions for what you want to see happen.”
Johnson offered his suggestions: “Find the areas of agreement, and it starts with: Agree on the facts. Lay out the reality. Do the root cause analysis. To me, that is the problem-solving process.”
But Republicans will have to act quickly if they want to stabilize the markets. Insurers must make decisions by September on whether they will leave the ObamaCare exchanges or increase premiums.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S. D.) , a former insurance executive, worried that it’s too late to appropriate ObamaCare’s cost-sharing reduction payments (CSRs) , which reimburse insurers for giving discounted deductibles and copays to low-income customers.
“We can always start, the problem is the timing. We don’ t have — it’ ll be very difficult to get it done in time to impact rates next year, ” he said.
“What I’ m really worried about is I’ m afraid the prices will probably rise well over 20 percent.”
In the meantime, President Trump and his administration face decisions on how to handle the healthcare law. And it doesn’ t look like he’s going to do much to prop up the law’s exchanges.
“As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” Trump tweeted after the bill failed.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) worriedly admitted that’s a possibility.
“The wildcard is what the president does, ” he said.
“Obviously the president, through executive action, can make things ever more difficult. And that’s a possibility.”
For example, the Trump administration could end ObamaCare’s CSR payments.
Insurers have been begging for long-term certainty over these payments, which the administration has been making on a month-to-month basis.
His administration could also decide to stop enforcing the individual mandate, a move experts warn could cause the insurance markets to collapse. The mandate is designed to bring in healthy enrollees to balance out the sick ones.
