Sen. Lamar Alexander: Women will have important role in crafting Obamacare replacement bill

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander insisted Wednesday that women will have a seat at the table as Senate Republicans work to craft a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

“It’s import to get every voice heard in this discussion,” said Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “We don’t want to leave anyone out. Men, women, rural, urban, west, east — we’ve got a big, complicated country, and health care affects every American in a personal way.”

A 13-member working group appointed by GOP leaders to piece together a health care bill has sparked fire even from within Republican ranks because none of the senators selected for the panel are women.

GOP leaders bow to pressure

Bowing to pressure, GOP leaders invited Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., to participate Tuesday when the all-male group met to discuss Medicaid. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., insisted the controversy over the group’s gender had been overblown because, he said, several different groups of senators are engaged in health care and all 52 Senate Republicans are involved in the discussions.

Alexander made that same point Wednesday.

“It’s a committee of the whole — a working group of 52,” the Tennessee Republican said. “If there are smaller groups that meet, every senator is welcome to attend.”

The Senate is writing its own health care bill after the House’s 217-213 vote last week to approve legislation that would unravel many of the Affordable Care Act's popular consumer protections, do away with the mandate for individuals to maintain health insurance and end expanded Medicaid eligibility.

Senate bill could come within weeks

Alexander said the Senate has not set a time frame for completing its own bill, but he expects the process to take weeks, not months.

“The sooner we act, the better,” he said. But, “our major goal is to get it right.”

The smaller working group is scheduled to meet again Thursday and discuss how to lower premiums, which Alexander says is one of his priorities for the Senate bill.

One of the major disagreements that still must be resolved is how to handle the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which allowed states to add low-income childless adults to that joint state-federal program, with Washington picking up most of the tab. Moderate Republicans want to protect those who gained insurance under that expansion, while conservatives want to shrink that program dramatically.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a member of the GOP working group, has said he wants to make sure any rollback of the ACA's Medicaid expansion is gradual and that he would not support any bill that “pulls the rug from under” the 700,000 low-income Ohioans who were able to get coverage under the Medicaid expansion.

“That’s a valid concern that I support and that many other senators support,” Alexander said.

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Hope in sight for counties without insurer

Alexander said he welcomed the announcement Tuesday that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is negotiating with state officials to return in 2018 to the individual insurance market in the Knoxville area.

Sixteen counties in the region were left without an insurer when Humana — the area’s sole provider on the federal Obamacare insurance exchange, or marketplace — announced it would exit the market in 2018. Humana’s exodus would leave 40,000 people with zero health insurance options next year.

Alexander said he will continue to push Congress to approve a bill to provide temporary relief to those Tennesseans, even though BlueCross BlueShield may return and fill that gap.

The legislation, which he and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., filed in March, would let people who get government subsidies to buy insurance use that money to purchase any state-approved plan on the private market if there is no insurer selling policies on the federal exchange in their area.

Alexander said the legislation is still needed because BlueCross BlueShield could change its mind about re-entering the Knoxville market and because other parts of the country are facing the same dilemma, potentially leaving millions of Americans with no health insurance options unless Congress acts.

“It’s a temporary fix,” he said, “but it will provide peace of mind.”

Reach Michael Collins at mcollins2@gannett.com or 703-854-8927 and on Twitter at @mcollinsNEWS.