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Despite President Trump’s mixed messages, key senators unveiled their bipartisan plan Thursday to stabilize health insurance markets, drawing widespread support. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health committee, and the top Democrat on the panel, and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington jointly announced 22 bipartisan co-sponsors to their effort, more than typical for…

At the core of Medicaid’s troubles is its provider reimbursement system, which is based on price controls. In general, it pays rates substantially less than those of private insurance and can even be less than the cost to deliver that care. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, in 2016, Medicaid reimbursed physicians across the…

President Trump has defended his decision to end cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies — an element of the Affordable Care Act that helped lower the cost of deductibles and co-pays for people making less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level — by pointing to the gain in stock prices for health-insurance companies. Insurance companies…

Sen. Alexander deserves credit for trying to steer the GOP out of the health care wilderness. But the deal Sen. Alexander negotiated with Sen. Murray has a major flaw: It would fund the cost-sharing reduction payments authorized by the ACA for two years, through 2019. The GOP should not agree to fund cost-sharing reduction payments…

How does Washington define “bipartisan”? We are about to find out if it means that Republicans surrender to everything Democrats want, or if it means a genuine trade of policy priorities in which both sides get something and the country benefits. That’s the question to ask about this week’s deal between Republican Lamar Alexander and…

Any agreement to restore funding for cost-sharing payments should be tied to provisions allowing families to opt out of ObamaCare and buy coverage that meets their individual needs. The compromise should also grant insurers the right to sell such plans independent of ObamaCare’s rules and its rigged risk pool.

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tah Republican Sen. Orrin G. Hatch has dealt an emerging bipartisan health care bill a body blow. President Donald Trump has sent mixed messages on his stance on the legislation from Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington, saying he opposed it Wednesday after…

GOP lawmakers acknowledge they’ll eventually have to contend with shaky insurance markets and what to do about the elimination of remaining cost-sharing subsidy payments due this year. If a stand-alone bipartisan bill cannot be passed, money to fund the key insurance subsidy program could be resurrected as part of a year-end spending agreement. . .…

The White House says that substantial changes must be made to a bipartisan health-care deal for President Trump to support it. The changes would push the bill to the right, raising serious doubt about whether Democrats would agree to the deal. A White House official said Wednesday night that the deal should include “relief” from ObamaCare’s individual…

A majority of voters back a key component of President Trump’s executive order. Fifty-two percent of voters said they support Trump’s plan to make it easier for small businesses to band together in associations to sponsor low-cost, less comprehensive health care coverage across state lines, while 30 percent said they oppose the policy, according to…