Republican John Kasich of Ohio, Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper and Alaska's Bill Walker, an independent, pushed for the two bills during a press conference Friday at the National Press Club outlining a new bipartisan health proposal. The plea comes as senators are hoping to insert the two bills into a long-term spending bill next month.
Kasich said he would like to restore cost-sharing reduction payments to Obamacare insurers, which Trump cut off in the fall. The bill from Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., would restore the payments for two years in exchange for more state flexibility. The bill was released in the fall.
“They can’t seem to get this done,” Kasich said, referring to Congress. “It is all politics.”
Obamacare insurers are required under the law to lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income customers, and the CSRs reimburse them. Without the payments, Obamacare insurers raised premiums overall this year to recoup the costs.
