Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:45 pm
Bipartisan Governors sent the following letter to Congressional leaders Wednesday, urging them to abide by federal law in regards to Obamacare by funding the cost-sharing reduction program Republicans are sabotaging and to quickly pass legislation to stabilize the marketplace and vote on Alexander-Murray.
The letter tries to bring Congress home to the reality that their reckless actions are harming real people.
Here’s the letter:
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October 18, 2017
The Honorable Paul D. Ryan
Speaker of the House
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Senate Majority Leader
S-230, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Senate Minority Leader
S-221, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Speaker, Leader McConnell, Leader Pelosi and Leader Schumer:
We urge Congress to quickly pass legislation to stabilize our private health insurance markets and make quality health insurance more available and affordable. Senators Alexander and Murray have negotiated in good faith and developed a bipartisan agreement that will help achieve these goals. Their legislation deserves a vote by the House and Senate.
Federal law requires insurers to provide discounted cost-sharing for lower income Americans. With the elimination of federal payments for the cost sharing reduction program, insurers are faced with significant financial losses, which could force them to withdraw from the marketplace, or, in some states, request significant rate increases.
The Congressional Budget Office warned that the president’s action would increase premiums by 25 percent by 2020 and leave some Americans without any insurers in the nongroup market– all while driving up the national debt by nearly $200 billion. The timing of the termination – days before open enrollment begins – is sowing confusion among consumers and leaving states scrambling to develop solutions to stabilize their insurance markets.
Stabilizing insurance markets is one of the primary areas where Congress can take action to ensure that consumers have affordable health care options. As governors, we deal with the real-life impacts of actions taken in Washington, DC. With heightened uncertainty at the federal level, many of our states have worked hard to ensure that every part of each of our states has insurers willing to offer plans on the individual market. We have explored, designed, and implemented programs to help keep costs from spiraling out of control.
That is why Congress should, at a minimum, fund cost-sharing reduction payments through 2019.
We urge Congress to work with states to make reforms that will preserve and expand gains in coverage, while controlling costs for consumers. Earlier this year, Governors from both sides laid out a framework to help stabilize the individual markets. We are encouraged that the
Senators’ agreement contains many of the elements that Governors identified as important to stabilizing the market, providing choice for consumers and making insurance more affordable.
We look forward to continuing to work with you to improve the American health care system.
Sincerely,
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