Murkowski Tax Vote Contingent on Stabilizing Individual Health Insurance Market

[DonViejo]

Source: Roll Call




Posted Nov 17, 2017 10:42 AM
Joe Williams

Sen. Lisa Murkowski suggested on Thursday that her vote on the current version of the tax overhaul is contingent on passing a separate bill to stabilize the individual health insurance market.

The tax legislation now includes a section to repeal the individual mandate — a provision that opens up over $300 billion in revenue — but could also threaten the viability of the overall health law.

The measure has caused some heartburn for moderate members, particularly Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, two of the three votes that helped sink the recent GOP bill to repeal the law earlier this year.

Murkowski believes legislation from Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the panel’s top Democrat, is necessary before the mandate — which supporters of the law say is a critical foundation for the current insurance markets — is repealed.

Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/murkowski-alexander-murray-necessary

[underpants]

1. They can't lose another vote

If Johnson stays true to his word and since Rand Paul may not being able to get to D.C. there are AT 50 now.

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. Paul already returned to DC n/t

[underpants]

7. Okay I missed that. N/t

[greymattermom]

2. Why would she believe that they

would pass a separate bill? This seems fake to me.

[Midnight Writer]

10. Totally phony. Just positioning on her part, so when people wake up screwed she can act "concerned".

[still_one]

3. Murkowski is not a moderate

[getagrip_already]

4. window dressing....

So what if the senate passes a bill. That doesn't make it law. The house would have to pass it and the president would have to sign it, none of which is going to happen.

It's a fig leaf to let her get away with a vote she knows will hurt her state.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. She needs to understand that HER party does NOT want to "stabilize the marketplace"

they want to kill the marketplace and all the people who depend on it.

[riversedge]

8. BREAKING: Murkowski is a no on the tax bill unless Alexander-Murray passes first. (NARRATOR: It won

I give her credit for pushing this issue.



Topher Spiro‏Verified account @TopherSpiro
3h3 hours ago

BREAKING: Murkowski is a no on the tax bill unless Alexander-Murray passes first. (NARRATOR: It won't.)

Link to tweet

.............“There is a path forward. It just means that some who have said some nasty things about CSRs are maybe just going to have to acknowledge that, well, this might be the way that you thread this needle,” she said. “If that tax cut is offset by higher premiums, you haven’t delivered benefit.”

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that removing the mandate could lead to millions more uninsured individuals over the next ten years and could raise health care costs for some, particularly sicker Americans.

Twelve Republican senators — along with every Democratic member — have come out in support of the Alexander-Murray bill, enough for it to pass under the regular 60-vote threshold in the chamber.

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“It’s been frustrating to me that even with the bipartisan support that we have, that it’s met with such resistance,” Murkowski said.

The Senate is expected to vote on its tax overhaul the week after the Thanksgiving break.

[karynnj]

9. Interesting

It was the Republicans that defunded the catastrophic insurance and caused costs to soar. I suspect that removing the mandate will cause some healthy people to unwisely opt out of insurance also raising rates. It is hard to figure out what fixing the first problem does without the mandate.