Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus told The Hill they are setting up a group of four or five lawmakers, led by Rep. John Fleming (R-La.). The lawmakers will develop a plan meant to influence the main House working group led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and two other panel chairmen, which Fleming complained is meeting in “secret.”
While working on their own ideas, Freedom Caucus members are also open to something like Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) idea to temporarily extend subsidies.
Johnson’s plan would extend ObamaCare subsidies through August 2017, when he hopes there will be a Republican president, while also repealing the law’s individual and employer mandates.
His bill has 31 Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It has not received the same welcome in the House, though; Ryan’s working group is still publicly undecided on the question, and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) came out in opposition to the idea last month.
The Freedom Caucus debated Johnson’s plan for half an hour at a meeting Monday night.
“I think that I could only support it if it had a definite expiration at the end of 2016, or maybe in the first half of 2017,” Fleming said.
Other members said they were originally skeptical when told of the idea to extend ObamaCare subsidies but warmed to it once they learned Johnson’s plan would also repeal the individual and employer mandates, which they say gives people more freedom.
“When it was first presented to me, the person from the press that presented it to me said [Johnson] just wanted to extend the subsidies, and if that were the only case, no way would I support that,” said Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.). However, Salmon noted the plan also repeals the mandates and said, “Anything that would get rid of fundamental parts of ObamaCare will ultimately lead to its demise.”
The American Academy of Actuaries warned last week that removing the mandates could cause premiums to skyrocket, because sicker people would be more likely to be insured.
“I think the initial headlines of Sen. Johnson’s bill gave people a little caution,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). “However, when you look at the fact that the employer and individual mandates go away, what does that do? And so I think it’s trying to take his concept and say, ‘Alright what is the end of result of that?’ We debated that for about 30 minutes.”
Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) called it a “bad idea to continue the subsides, especially for the length of time that Senator Johnson is suggesting.”
“There may have to be some transition period,” he added. “But the transition period that people are talking about is more like within the year rather than three years.”
The Freedom Caucus working group has not met yet. Fleming, lamenting that the House’s primary planners are “kind of a secret group,” said there is “no reason why we shouldn’t be working on our ideas.
Groups meeting in secret??
Anything to do with Lyin’ Paul Ryan should be thrown out, immediately.
why does everyone here think that the answer is to just “turn it off?” Doesn’t work that way. Insurance companies will have to rewrite everything. I asked someone if they can just go back to Jan 1, 2014 with paperwork and then fix what broke. I was told, they could only wish it was that easy.
Too many parts interwoven into everything. They need a new plan moving forward as well as what the interim would look like.
why does everyone here think that the answer is to just “turn it off?” Doesn’t work that way. Insurance companies will have to rewrite everything. I asked someone if they can just go back to Jan 1, 2014 with paperwork and then fix what broke. I was told, they could only wish it was that easy.
Too many parts interwoven into everything. They need a new plan moving forward as well as what the interim would look like.