Just last week, senators sounded optimistic that they were on the brink of a bipartisan deal to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that millions of Americans rely on to lower their insurance premiums.
“We’re in the red zone,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio — one of the key negotiators — told reporters at the time.
But when this week ended without a deal, the optimism seemed to have departed the Capitol with the senators on Thursday.
“We are in a little bit of a pothole,” Moreno said.
Some negotiators still insist there is hope. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, another one of the key negotiators, told MS NOW that lawmakers are “pretty well there.”
“We’re now in the drafting stage,” King said.
But a major sticking point throughout the talks — abortion — continues to block a compromise.
Republicans are pushing for stricter abortion restrictions in Obamacare coverage, including new limits on abortion coverage in marketplace plans in states that allow or require it.
Democrats insist that any additional abortion restrictions would be a “poison pill.” And language that both sides can live with remains elusive.
That’s the bad news for lawmakers who are desperate to find a deal, even if it comes after Obamacare marketplaces closed nationwide this week. But the good news is that Republicans and Democrats actually agree on a number of major elements for a deal.
The framework goes something like this: Extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that expired on Jan. 1 for two years — with new income caps set at 700% of the federal poverty level and $5 minimum premiums per month — and in the second year, recipients can choose to put the money for those subsidies into a Health Savings Account instead.
As part of the deal, lawmakers would reopen the Obamacare marketplaces to allow enrollees who may have opted out due to costs to sign up.
With that much agreement, a deal might seem close. But the abortion language has repeatedly derailed progress. And in a sign that talks are in trouble, negotiators are now blaming each other more than touting breakthroughs.
Moreno specifically faulted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the legislation stalling, suggesting Schumer may be more interested in preserving a “political issue” than finding a solution.
“Until I hear affirmative statements from the Democrat leader that he is going to encourage his conference to vote for” the deal, Moreno said on Thursday, “there’s really no reason why we should spend any more time.”
In a statement provided to MS NOW, Schumer pushed back on Moreno’s comments, contending that “everyone knows Democrats have been trying to negotiate a deal to extend ACA tax credits since the summer.”
“Senator Moreno is trying to distract from the reality: the credits expired and Americans are paying thousands more because Republicans can’t get their act together,” he added.
Schumer has repeatedly argued that a clean three-year extension is the best path forward — even though that proposal already failed in the Senate in December.
For months, health care has dominated discussions in Congress, with Democrats making an extension of the subsidies a central demand of the record-breaking government shutdown last fall.
After various misfires, House Democrats successfully used a discharge petition last week to force a vote in the GOP-controlled chamber on a three-year extension of the subsidies. Seventeen Republicans — many from battleground congressional districts — joined Democrats to pass the bill and send it to the Senate.
Although that three-year extension will not clear the Senate, House moderates like Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., hoped the House action would amp up pressure on the Senate negotiators to finally reach a deal.
Asked about the apparent drag in Senate talks, Suozzi told MS NOW on Thursday that lawmakers were going to “keep on pushing.”
“There’s always been these ups and downs along the way,” Suozzi said.
Fitzpatrick urged his Senate colleagues to “not let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” telling them to “look at the big picture and the long game here.”
As the wait continues to see if the Senate talks can get out of the “pothole,” the White House also entered the health care discussion on Thursday, with President Donald Trump finally unveiling his own health care proposal.
Although lacking in explicit detail, the plan calls for taking steps to lower drug prices to be on par with other countries, requiring greater price transparency from health care providers, and sending money used for insurance payment subsidies to consumers instead.
It does not call for extending the enhanced subsidies.
Asked about the proposal, two of the key Senate negotiators suggested the White House plan wouldn’t throw a wrench into the fragile Senate negotiations.
“We’re talking about an immediate problem that needs to be addressed in the next several weeks,” King said.
But with the Senate now gone for a week, it remains unclear if negotiators can finally reach a deal.
“I don’t think it is too late to salvage something,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. “I’m not giving up.”
Peggy Helman and Mychael Schnell contributed to this report.
