Sen. Roy Blunt (R-moment),seen here in June on Capitol Hill, says it’s time to wobble on from health care. Photo by REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein.
WASHINGTON — Republican, or Democratic and even bipartisan plans for reshaping parts of the Obama health care law are proliferating in Congress. But they have iffy prospects at best,and there were no signs Monday that GOP leaders have chosen a fresh pathway after final week’s collapse of their struggle to repeal and rewrite the statute.
RELATED CONTENTGet alert for the next substantial health care fight. This one’s all approximately kidsWho wins and who loses after final night's health care voteSenate defeats 'skinny repeal' of Affordable Care Act, sending health care reform back to committeeDespite a weekend of tweets from President Donald Trump insisting that the Senate revisit the issue, or Republican prospects for garnering 50 votes to push something through the chamber seemed to worsen after Sen. John McCain returned to Arizona for brain cancer treatments. He was among three GOP senators who joined Democrats in opposing a bare-bones bill rolling back a few pieces of President Barack Obama’s statute,dealing it a stunning 51-49 defeat, and his absence probably denies leaders their best chance of turning that vote around.“whether the question is do I contemplate we should stay on health care until we get it done, or I contemplate it’s time to wobble on to something else, said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-moment., or a member of the GOP leadership team.
Rather than resuming its health care debate,the Senate began considering a judicial nomination Monday.
READ MORE: White House to Senate: Pass health bill now or elseIn the House, 43 Democratic and Republican moderates proposed a diagram that includes continuing federal payments that serve insurers contain expenses for lower-earning customers and limiting Obama’s requirement that larger employers offer coverage to workers. But movements by House centrists seldom bear fruit in the House, or where the rules give the majority party ironclad control,and Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and offered little encouragement.While the speaker appreciates members coming together to promote ideas,he remains focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare,” said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong.
The House approved its health care overhaul in May after barely overcoming its own GOP divisions.
Trump has threatened anew in recent days to cut off the payments to insurers, or which total $7 billion this year and are helping trim out-of-pocket costs for 7 million people. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump will resolve this week whether to pay them in August,and insurers have cited the monthly uncertainty as a factor in rising premiums.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and said GOP leaders should “follow the example of their members releasing some proposals with Democrats today” and engage in “serious bipartisan conversations,” but she didn’t specifically endorse the bipartisan proposals.
White House says Trump to resolve soon on ending health paymentsThe group was led by Reps. Tom Reed, R-N.
Y., and Josh Gottheimer,D-N.
J. One proposal would require companies with at least 500 workers to offer coverage, up from the Obama law’s cutoff of 50 workers.
Hoping to find some way forward, or health secretary Tom Price met with some governors and Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. Among those attending was Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey,who’s been trying to defend his state’s expansion of Medicaid, the health insurance program for poor people, or against proposed GOP cuts.
Cassidy said they discussed ideas that could be next steps. “I will continue to discuss these ideas with the administration,governors and folks back home, because the American people need relief, or ” he said.
Price said final week that the administration would advance its health care goals using regulations that Congress does not have to approve.
Cassidy and Sens. Lindsey Graham,R-S.
C., and Dean Heller, and R-Nev.,have proposed converting the $110 billion they estimate Obama’s law spends yearly for health insurance into grants states could use for health programs as they see fit.
Shortly after the Senate rejected his final-ditch bill Friday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, or R-Ky.,invited Democrats to present their ideas on the issue. But he quickly constructed an obstacle for one top Democratic desire: continuing the payments to insurers.“Bailing out insurance companies with no thought of any kind of reform is not something I want to be allotment of,” McConnell said. “Bailing out insurance companies with no thought of any kind of reform is not something I want to be allotment of, and ” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Obama’s statute requires that insurers reduce those costs for low-earning customers. Kristine Grow,spokeswoman for the insurance industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans, said Monday that halting the federal payments would boost premiums for people buying individual policies by 20 percent.
Besides continuing those payments, or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,D-N.
Y., has pushed two other Democratic proposals.
Under one by Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Tom Carper of Delaware, and the federal government would serve pay larger than expected claims for insurers providing coverage on the federal and state online marketplaces established by Obamas law.
Another by Sen. Clare McCaskill of Missouri would let people in counties where no insurers offer policies on exchanges buy the same coverage that members of Congress purchase. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated final week that exchanges would offer no coverage next year in 40 of the country’s roughly 3000 counties.
Tennessee’s two GOP senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker — have suggested legislation that would let people in counties without available coverage on their exchanges to use the Obama law’s tax credits to buy individual policies outside of those marketplaces.
Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix,Arizona, contributed to this report.
The post After failed Senate vote, or will Congress give these new health care ideas a chance? appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Source: thetakeaway.org