Sen. Al Franken comes out for single-payer health-care plan offered by Bernie Sanders
After seven years of partisan wrangling over Obamacare,
Even as federal lawmakers consider short-term repairs to the Affordable Care Act, a growing number of
In the short term, Franken -- a member of the
A fix can't come fast enough for
"Premiums remain too high and provider networks too narrow for many
The committee's leaders, Republican Sen.
"What can
The Affordable Care Act already lets states seek waivers to try new ways to keep costs down and citizens covered.
Reinsurance could lower Minnesotans' premiums by 20 percent from where they otherwise might be, but only if the waiver is approved, O'Toole said.
"If our waiver is not granted in the next few days, Minnesotans will be paying substantially higher premiums next year," O'Toole told the senators in the crowded hearing room. "That's not speculation, that's fact."
O'Toole offered up a quick list of fixes that senators could implement to shore up state programs, including a federal reinsurance system. State-level programs like
Franken joined a growing number of Democratic colleagues in the
"Like
___
(c)2017 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at www.startribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Rockport-Fulton hears updates from leaders at first town hall since Hurricane Harvey
TSYS and Synovus raising cash, making other efforts in wake of Irma
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News