McSally, O’Halleran part of caucus offering changes to health insurance plan

July 31--Two members of the Southern Arizona congressional delegation -- a Republican and a Democrat -- are backing a change to the Affordable Care Act designed to stabilize health insurance markets.

Reps. Martha McSally and Tom O'Halleran, both part of the 40-member Problem Solvers Caucus, released a broad outline of proposed changes to the federal health-care legislation known as Obamacare on Monday morning, just days after attempts at a "skinny repeal" of the ACA in the Senate failed.

McSally, who spearheaded the Republican working group to gather consensus on a series of fixes, said the effort over the last few weeks was not meant to undermine Republican efforts to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act in the Senate. Or for that matter, another attempt to repeal Obamacare.

"This is not about saving or killing the Affordable Care Act, or scoring political points," said McSally, who represents District 2. "This is about identifying and negotiating real solutions to real urgent problems and helping the people who have been harmed most by the ACA."

A key proposal to the legislation requires the federal government pay out cost-sharing subsidies -- an estimated $7 billion -- to insurance companies this year. The payments are a central part of the ACA designed to lower premiums for individual customers in the marketplace. The Trump administration is looking at ending those payments.

Without action from the Senate, some insurance companies have begun pulling out of the individual market altogether, according to McSally. In Arizona, 14 of the 15 counties already have only one option, and choices will continue to dwindle, she said in a news release.

Other provisions in the legislation include raising the employer mandate for providing health insurance from 50 employees to 500 and repealing the medical device tax.

"It doesn't take a doctor to diagnose that the individual market across the country is not healthy and urgent action is needed to help our constituents," McSally said.

While some of the fixes were inside the "skinny repeal" that failed in the Senate, McSally said there were some compromises on both sides. "We had to swallow some requests from the other side," she acknowledged.

The retired Air Force colonel said she could not wait for a solution to come out of the Republican leadership or from the White House.

Rep. Tom O'Halleran, a freshman Democrat from Flagstaff who represents District 1, is also part of the Problem Solvers caucus.

"We must move forward swiftly to stabilize the health insurance market to ensure elderly Arizonans, veterans, and those living with disabilities continue to have access to affordable health coverage," O'Halleran said.

However, while Problem Solvers Caucus has consensus among its 40-person, bipartisan caucus, the announcement Monday is only a broad outline moving forward. No bill has been drafted and McSally and O'Halleran said they want to see the legislation introduced through what they call "regular order."

The pair are referring to formal steps take before votes on legislation, primarily the use of public hearings and committee deliberation. To introduce the Better Care Reconciliation Act, members of the Senate Republican leadership met in private to write the bill.

"It is an important first step in returning to regular order, with an open and transparent legislative process that allows for input from citizens, policy experts, and members both parties," O'Halleran said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., offered little encouragement about the plan moving forward. "While the speaker appreciates members coming together to promote ideas, he remains focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare," said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong, according to The Associated Press.

Respond: Write a letter to the editor -- Write a guest opinion

Contact reporter Joe Ferguson at jferguson@tucson.com or 573-4197. On Twitter: @JoeFerguson

___

(c)2017 The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)

Visit The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.) at www.tucson.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.