The following article by Mary Ellen McIntire was posted on the Roll Call website October 17, 2017:
Alexander, Murray have an agreement on stabilizing insurance marketplaces
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said he has reached an agreement with Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the panel’s ranking Democrat, on a limited deal to stabilize the individual health insurance markets.
Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, briefed GOP senators on that deal during their weekly policy lunch Tuesday.
President Donald Trump said at an appearance at the White House on Tuesday that administration officials have been involved in the Alexander-Murray talks and signaled he supports what he described as a one- or two-year package.
He called it a “short-term deal” that is needed to “get us over this hump” until Republicans might find a way to send him a measure to partially or completely repeal the Obama-era law.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer spoke positively of the agreement, saying, “Two years of cost sharing provides real stability to the system and we want to make sure that happens.” Continue reading “Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Health Care”