Divided lawmakers try to navigate Obamacare fixes

A bipartisan Senate health panel is set to meet on Obamacare in September, but lawmakers disagree on funding for insurer payments that would otherwise lead to more exits from health insurance companies and higher premiums for people who don't receive subsidies.

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee are holding hearings Sept. 6-7 to discuss how to keep premiums from rising much more than they are, particularly if the payments, called cost-sharing reduction subsidies, or CSRs, are not funded. If cut off, a Congressional Budget Office analysis found, premiums would rise by an average of 20 percent next year.

Areas of political disagreement between Democrats and Republicans became apparent at a Thursday breakfast with congressional aides hosted by the Alliance for Health Care Policy, including on whether and how long the insurer payments, called cost-sharing reduction payments, will be appropriated through Congress. Aides spoke to reporters on the condition of not being named, but were involved with committees on healthcare.

The CSRs are being funded monthly by the Trump administration, but the president has indicated he would consider cutting them off. Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has said Congress should fund the payments.

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