Source: Politico
The bipartisan Senate group working on a compromise deal to revive the lapsed Affordable Care Act subsidies won’t have legislative text ready until the last week of January, according to one of the lead negotiators — a dip in the cautious optimism some lawmakers have projected in recent days that a framework could come out as soon as this week.
“We have to make sure we get it right,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, a lead negotiator, in an interview Tuesday morning, adding that the group would be meeting later in the day to iron out the details of the proposal.
The Ohio Republican added that senators at the negotiating table — which have included himself, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — need to “make sure that everybody’s all set with all the framework elements, see if there’s any still areas of angst we still have to resolve.”
Moreno had originally anticipated releasing legislative text this week. The fact that the group is now waiting until after the Senate’s scheduled upcoming recess signals that the negotiators may still be far apart on some of the thorniest issues.
According to Moreno, Democrats and Republicans involved in the discussions have yet to come to a resolution on how to address the so-called Hyde Amendment, which mandates that federal funding cannot cover abortions. Under law, insurers on the Obamacare marketplace must segregate funds that go toward abortion services from funds that go to all other health services.
However, Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether that segregation complies with the Hyde Amendment in the first place. One option lawmakers are now considering as a compromise policy to ride alongside a revival of the enhanced Obamacare credits is increasing audits and penalties on insurance plans to yield stricter enforcement of how the funds are dispersed.
“We have to get that resolution, and we’re trying to figure out a way to kind of land that,” said Moreno.
