Culture

Leading Senators Have Reached A Bipartisan Deal To Restore Key Health Insurance Subsidies Ended By Trump

by: Uproxx authors

Throughout the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, senators have been working on a bipartisan solution that would stabilize the health insurance market and address some of the complaints critics have for the Affordable Care Act. After President Trump announced he would eliminate subsidies of cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, which decrease the out-of-pocket costs for low-income people (despite the fact that doing so would further destabilize the market and increase premiums), Sen. Patty Murry (D-WA) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have reached a deal to continue funding those CSR payments. In the above CNN clip, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the deal as a “good solution.”

Under the deal, the CSR payments would be funded for two years, meaning insurers won’t raise premiums to offset costs. Sen. Alexander also says the deal gives states “more flexibility in the variety of choices they can give to consumers,” an obvious plus for Republicans. Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, told reporters that President Trump approved of his attempts to strike a deal with Sen. Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Health Committee.

“This takes care of the next two years,” Sen. Alexander said. “After that, we can have a full-fledged debate on where we go long-term on healthcare.”

The bipartisan deal was announced shortly after President Trump announced during a press briefing that billions would no longer be going to the insurance companies and Obamacare was dead. Watch below.

(Via New York Times)