Senators reach bipartisan deal to restore Obamacare payments

Trump on ObamaCare 2 year extention, due to not having the vote to repeal and replace

Story by Yahoo News
Written by Liz Goodwin

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday announced a deal to stabilize Obamacare markets that the president has tentatively blessed. Republicans are selling the plan as a stopgap measure to stabilize individual markets for two years as they muster the votes to repeal and replace the law entirely.

The deal would restore billions of dollars in cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers that the president announced last week he would no longer make, prompting concerns of steep premium hikes in the individual markets.

It would also allow states to sell stripped-down “catastrophic” or copper plans to anyone, not just people under 30 as allowed under current law, according to Alexander. The deal would allow “many more states” to qualify for waivers that give them some flexibility in what plans they sell on their exchanges, though exactly how is still unclear.

And, in a boon to Democrats, the deal restores more than $100 million in Obamacare enrollment outreach funds stripped by Trump. Those funds would be distributed as grants to States. https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-scramble-prop-obamacare-amid-trump-sabotage-200318539.html

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/senators-reach-bipartisan-deal-restore-obamacare-health-care-payments-195750866.html