Alexander: Trump Administration Announcement Will Help States Lower Health Insurance Premiums
"I will continue working in Congress to help undo the damage Obamacare has done while protecting patients with pre-existing conditions.”
WASHINGTON, October 22, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s newly released guidance for Obamacare’s section 1332 waivers:
“Secretary Azar and Administrator Verma today are giving states a better tool to help lower Obamacare health insurance premiums, by giving them more freedom in the law’s 1332 State Innovation Waiver. In four bipartisan health committee hearings I chaired last fall, virtually every witness told our committee that waiver application is too cumbersome, inflexible, and expensive for states to use. I tried to fix this problem in Congress, but Democrats have elevated Obamacare to the 67th book of the bible and refused in March to fix even a word of the law’s waiver provision. I will continue working in Congress to help undo the damage Obamacare has done while protecting patients with pre-existing conditions.”
Background:
In a letter Chairman Alexander sent to Secretary Azar and Administrator Verma in June 2018, Alexander urged the Trump Administration to take actions to make the Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers a more powerful tool for lowering health insurance costs. The full text of that letter is here.
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