GOP unveils bill to block ObamaCare ‘bailout’
A group of Republican lawmakers on Friday unveiled a bill to block the Obama administration from making certain payments to ObamaCare insurers that the GOP calls a “bailout.”
{mosads}The measure from four Republican senators would prevent the administration from using an obscure fund to pay legal settlements to insurers that have sued over a shortfall in payments under an ObamaCare program called risk corridors.
The lawmakers are worried that on its way out the door, the administration will seek to shore up the finances of ObamaCare insurers by paying them the legal settlements.
The issue has declined some in prominence since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, raising the prospect that ObamaCare could be repealed altogether. But the lawmakers say that even if the law is on the way out, they do not want payments made to insurers in the meantime.
“We are going to repeal and replace Obamacare but, in the meantime, the last thing Americans need is for the Obama Administration to sneak in one last bailout on its way out the door,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in a statement.
The other sponsors are Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) introduced a version in the House.
At issue is ObamaCare’s risk corridor program, which seeks to shift money among insurers to protect them from heavy losses in the early years of the health law. Not enough money came into the program, leaving a hole in insurer finances and contributing to premium hikes and some insurers dropping out of the marketplace altogether. Some insurers then sued for the rest of the money.
The new bill would block the administration from being able to get them at least some money through legal settlements.
It remains unclear whether the administration will even try to settle before it leaves office.
There had been some talk of attaching language in this bill to the year-end spending measure, but it is unclear whether that will happen. Republicans are now planning a stop-gap bill into early next year, not a bill for the full year.
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