Fresh Hope for Obamacare, and for Bipartisanship

After several failed attempts to wreck the U.S. health-insurance system, Congress now has a bipartisan agreement to help shore it up. The deal could still fall apart -- victimized by the president's fickle support and committed opposition from conservatives in Congress -- but it's exactly the kind of rational compromise that Washington needs more of.

The agreement reached by two senators -- Democrat Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee -- would guarantee for two years the essential payments to insurers that President Donald Trump withdrew last week; those companies wouldn't then need to hike premiums by as much as 20 percent or exit the individual insurance market altogether. In return, the bill would, among other things, allow people to buy less comprehensive coverage than the Affordable Care Act now requires. That would loosen Obamacare protections, but not drastically.