Murphy, Merkley Push New Democratic Plan to Offer All Consumers Access to Medicare

DAILY NEWS Murphy, Merkley Push New Democratic Plan To Offer All Consumers Access To Medicare

April 18, 2018

Senators Chris Murphy (CT) and Jeff Merkley (OR) introduced a new Democratic health care proposal that would allow all individuals, regardless of age, with private or public insurance to buy into Medicare. The lawmakers described their proposal as “the public option on steroids.”

The proposal, called the Choose Medicare Act, would offer Medicare coverage as an option for all individuals and for private businesses to offer their employees. The legislation would create a “Medicare Part E,” because new benefits such as maternity and pediatric care would have to be added to the Medicare program, and it would be offered on all state and federal exchanges.

But unlike the more liberal Medicare for All proposal offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Murphy and Merkley’s proposal would give consumers the option to buy into Medicare Part E or to remain on other insurance.

The proposed legislation would allow people who make up to 600 percent of the federal poverty level to receive subsidies to lower the cost of premiums, whereas under the ACA subsidies are cut off at 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Tax credits would be pegged to gold plans, not silver plans, “because a gold plan is similar to the level of support you find in Medicare,” Merkley explained. Murphy and Merkley argued that this would lower administrative costs of the Medicare program, reduce premiums and improve coverage quality.

“Overall we expect there to be savings, and I think as we work through this and potentially get a CBO score we can right-size the savings with the expenditures,” Murphy said.

Murphy noted that the Senate considered adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act when the law was crafted during the Obama administration, but the plan was eventually scrapped in the Senate Finance Committee. The new bill would act as that public option.

“There was unfinished business when we passed the Affordable Care Act. Obviously many people believed that a public option should be part of the Affordable Care Act,” Murphy told reporters Wednesday as he and Merkley unveiled their proposal.

The proposed legislation joins the chorus of Democratic health reform proposals released during the Trump administration, such as Sanders’ Medicare For All bill, Sen. Brian Schatz’s (HI) Medicaid Buy-In proposal and Sen. Tim Kaine's (VA) Medicare buy-in bill, among others. While these left-leaning proposals to expand coverage are unlikely to gain any traction under the current Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress, Democrats are preparing policy for the future.

But when asked whether Democrats would move quickly on these proposals if either the House or Senate flipped following the 2018 midterms, Murphy backtracked.

“I think we’re going to have to engage in some very quick work to bring the health care system back to life after this two-year assault by the Trump administration so I don’t know that a big idea like Universal Medicare Buy-In or Medicare For-All will be first up in 2019. I think we’re going to have to do some very quick, hard work to restore affordability,” Murphy said.

Health insurance premiums on the ACA exchanges are expected to spike in 2019 due to the GOP tax bill’s repeal of the individual mandate and the Trump administration’s move to end cost-sharing reduction payments (CSRs) to insurers. Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME) and Lamar Alexander (TN) spent much of 2017 and 2018 working on legislation to stabilize the Obamacare markets, but the legislation ultimately failed due to partisan disagreements over the Hyde amendment.

Merkley said he views the Choose Medicare Act as an incremental step toward a Medicare for All plan, and although not every Democrat agrees with Sanders’ more extreme bill, which he supports, he hopes the party can rally around Medicare Part E.

“There is a common vision that both perspectives can buy into,” Merkley said. “While some of us may be striving towards the vision of Medicare For All, and others are not, maybe we can all agree in the interim that every American should have the option to choose Medicare.”

Merkley and Murphy’s bill has 10 Democratic cosponsors including rumored 2020 hopefuls Sen. Cory Booker (D- NJ) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). Other cosponsors include Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Brian Schatz(D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Tom Udall (D-NM).

The bill has no Republican cosponsors. -- Ariel Cohen ([email protected])