EDITORIAL: Prescribing compromise

Oct. 18--An agreement between Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray not only would restore crucial Obamacare subsidy payments that President Trump planned to withhold, but provide a course to long-term improvements in the law.

Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee and Murray, a Washington Democrat, is the ranking minority member. They have been working for months on a means to improve, rather than eviscerate, the health care law.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order recently, just two weeks before the open enrollment period for coverage, that would end subsidies that insurers use to mitigate the cost of coverage for low-income enrollees. The resulting uncertainty has caused insurers to announce major premium increases for most plans, including an average of about 30 percent in Pennsylvania.

The compromise would extend federal subsidies for two years while allowing states more flexibility in regulating coverage.

Trump favors such a compromise but the Alexander-Murray plan faces opposition from an unrealistic bloc of senators and another in the House, who want to simply repeal the Affordable Care Act.

That's as much a non-starter as it was when it failed in dozens of previous attempts. The Alexander-Murray compromise represents how Congress should work. It should pass.

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