GOP health care rewrite includes carve-out cash for Alaska
Sullivan said he's not making any comment on whether he'll vote for a motion to proceed (the procedural step before taking a vote on the bill) until he fully understands the bill. That's "what I think Alaskans want me to do, which is read it, dig through it, understand it, raise questions with my team or others if I don't understand it," he said.
Various media outlets were giving the provision nicknames soon after McConnell introduced the legislation Thursday in a private meeting with Republican senators: "Polar payout" and "Kodiak Kickback" were two offerings.
The longer-term funding includes
That would give
The short-term assistance fund will offer states
Sullivan said he's calling the 1 percent provision a " 'safety valve' for states with extremely high premiums."
"One percent doesn't sound like a lot, but 1 percent of a multibillion-dollar fund could be very helpful for
That clause does have a limit though: If the costs of
"If our premiums come down below that number, we'll still get funding," Sullivan said. Though he still needed to read through the language, he said, his understanding was that gave the administrator of the
The new grant funding offered under the bill would be in addition to Affordable Care Act funding that the federal government granted
The state's "reinsurance" program will use
The bill also includes
Sullivan said he was encouraged by the funding, and expressed a passion for federal aid in dealing with opioid addiction.
"If the Ebola virus ripped through
The senator also lauded the structure of the
The bill would also make it easier for insurers to sell lower-quality, lower-cost health insurance plans. Some lawmakers have raised concern that the provision, based off of an amendment crafted by Sen.
The bill reinstates a tax provision that both Sullivan and Murkowski said they wanted to see in the bill. The Affordable Care Act is in part funded by a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for people making more than
The new draft keeps the tax in place, which Murkowski and Sullivan both said they favor.
Both Murkowski and Sullivan have raised concerns about what the lowering of subsidies could mean for their constituents. Reviews of the House-passed bill and the earlier iteration out of the
It was not clear under an early analysis how the lower subsidies would impact Alaskans given the new funding options designed to lower premium costs.
Murkowski has been particularly concerned about cuts to Medicaid. Earlier in the week she said she'd prefer to see
A quarter of Alaskans receive health care funded by Medicaid. The
Medicaid remains a sticking point for Sullivan too, he said.
"I need to dig into the issue of Medicaid sustainability ... I haven't gotten through it ... and it concerns a lot of people back home," Sullivan said.
Both of
As the new bill hit the halls of
Several weeks ago, Murkowski said she wasn't sure an
"Think about it: If you had subsidy changes that only affect
McConnell can only lose two Republican votes and still pass the bill, with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President
Read the bill here.
Read section-by-section summaries here and here.
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