Rounds, Thune encouraged by Senate GOP’s health plan

June 22--WASHINGTON -- South Dakota's Republican senators are on board with the Senate health care plan released Thursday.

Both U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune see the Senate Republican proposed replacement of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as a method to lower health insurance premiums for Americans.

"The draft health care bill released today will help stabilize markets that are already collapsing, improve the affordability of health care, preserve access to care for those with pre-existing conditions, and sustain Medicaid while also ensuring that those who rely on the program do not have the rug pulled out from under them," Thune said in a statement on Thursday.

The bill, dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, was crafted behind closed-doors without cooperation from Senate Democrats. It's set to include gradual Medicaid funding rollbacks, cuts to funding for Planned Parenthood and dropping the insurance mandate created under Obamacare.

Rounds was encouraged by the proposal, which he deemed a "working model," and he said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, is open to taking recommendations on ways to improve the plan.

And Rounds, who has a knack for hosting media calls on some of Congress' busiest days, said the health care plan will be given the attention it deserves.

"We actually intend, believe it or not, to read this legislation before we vote on it," Rounds joked. "That's kind of a new deal here in Washington."

He also said he's set on making sure the plan is right for South Dakotans.

"We want to make sure that the provisions included in this bill are good for South Dakotans before we take a vote on it, and that's the same that we're going to do with any legislation," Rounds said.

Without the plan, Rounds said South Dakotans would see their health insurance premiums continue to rise. Over the last four years, according to Rounds, South Dakota has seen its insurance premiums rise 124 percent. And, he said, they would likely rise 40 percent again if no replacement for Obamacare was approved.

The plan follows a U.S. House of Representatives proposal, but it features a slower rollback of Medicaid funding for states. But it won't be approved until it receives 50 votes plus a tiebreaker from Vice President Mike Pence. And despite Rounds' thought that the plan is "more moderate" than the House bill, Senate approval could be an uphill climb.

"The real question is whether or not we can get to 50 votes with our current product and whether or not the vice president's in town, because it's going to take 50 votes plus the vice president to break a tie in order to make this work," Rounds said.

With 52 Republicans in the Senate and Democrats expected to oppose the plan, nearly all Senate Republicans will need to back the proposal for it to be successful.

As far as Rounds' priorities if the bill is changed, he'd like to see the promotion of group health insurance, which he said is highly successful.

For conservatives who may dislike the plan due to the gradually rolled back Medicaid expenses, Rounds suggested they compare the Senate proposal to Obamacare to see which they prefer.

And for Thune, now is the time to act on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

"It's time to rescue Americans from the mess that Obamacare created," Thune said.

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