WASHINGTON – During the second bipartisan hearing hosted by the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee since Trumpcare’s failure, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the HELP Committee, continued to press his Senate colleagues on Wednesday to work in a bipartisan fashion to improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Murphy received feedback from Colorado Governor John W. Hickenlooper, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on how Essential Health Benefits and enforcing the individual mandate impact the quality, cost, and accessibility of health care for all Americans.

Click here to view video of Murphy’s remarks.

“I understand the need to allow for states to be laboratories of experimentation. I think there is some benefit to knowing that no matter what state you go to, you’re going to be able to have folks that are sick or have higher levels of medical acuity be insured. Probably some benefit to know that there is some relatively uniform standard of benefit,” Murphy said.

“At least one actuarial firm suggested that [the president’s executive] order – this uncertainty around whether the individual mandate is going to be enforced – is contributing to about 10 percent of the premium rise.” Murphy continued and asked Governor Baker, “Can you just talk a little bit more about your experience with the mandate and what it potentially does to rates if there is, at the very least, great uncertainty from the perspective of insurers as to whether anybody is going to bear consequences if they don’t abide by it?”

Highlights of Murphy’s remarks are below: 

“I understand the need to allow for states to be laboratories of experimentation, and lord knows we still need more experimentation to figure out what works and what doesn’t work in health care. But we also do exist in a national economy with a decent amount of fluidity between people and businesses. So there’s an argument that having some floor on what insurance plans cover, protects states and actually creates stability in the overall economy. 

“You’ve all recommended giving states more flexibility, but where’s the natural end of that? Because I think there is some benefit to knowing that no matter what state you go to, you’re going to be able to have folks that are sick or have higher levels of medical acuity be insured. Probably some benefit to know that there is some relatively uniform standard of benefit. Maybe not exactly what’s in the ACA today, but at least some modicum of regularity. 

“So talk to me a little bit about whether you see some benefit in having some floor of benefits or protections, and how far you’d go in taking down the guardrails.” 

….

“I want to talk to you about the individual mandate because as part of the president’s executive order at the beginning of the year, he required that the IRS start to unroll the enforcement of the individual mandate. And they actually declared on February 14th that they would scrap plans to reject tax returns that don’t include information on coverage status. And at least one actuarial firm suggested that this order – this uncertainty around whether the individual mandate is going to be enforced – is contributing to about 10 percent of the premium rise. 

“Can you just talk a little bit more about your experience with the mandate and what it potentially does to rates if there is, at the very least, great uncertainty from the perspective of insurers as to whether anybody is going to bear consequences if they don’t abide by it?”

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