Senate health committee chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he will seek consensus on limited health care plan.
He said, “I will consult with Senator Murray and with other senators, both Republicans and Democrats, to see if senators can find consensus on a limited bipartisan plan that could be enacted into law to help lower premiums and make insurance available to the 18 million Americans in the individual market in 2018 and 2019.
“I would have voted for the Graham-Cassidy proposal because it meant more money and more state decision-making for Tennessee, and would have helped control the federal debt. But Graham-Cassidy primarily would have affected 2020 and beyond. I’m still concerned about the next two years and Congress has an opportunity to slow down premium increases in 2018, begin to lower them in 2019, and do our best to make sure there are no counties where people have zero options to buy health insurance.”
Senator David Perdue (R-GA) commented on the Senate’s effort to repeal and replace Obamacare:
“What happened today in Washington was a failure. Let’s be clear, Obamacare was perpetrated on the American people by a Democratic supermajority and is collapsing under its own weight. Premiums have skyrocketed and middle-class American families cannot afford health insurance or have been priced out of the individual market. Georgians and Americans are fed up, and they should be. There is a complete lack of Congressional leadership and no accountability to get results. From the get go, three Republican Senate Chairmen failed to support our efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare as we have all promised to do.
"Today, political interests have again outweighed our national interest. The current health care system is failing and we have to change direction to help those hurting under Obamacare, which is still the law of the land.”