Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander is putting some election-year pressure on Congress to shore up the individual insurance marketplace. As the head of the Senate’s health committee, he promised the bi-partisan legislation as a way to mitigate any damage from canceling the individual mandate to buy insurance.

But, as Alexander told the Senate Thursday, he’s been surprised at the lack of interest, especially given President Trump’s
occasional statements of support.

“This has been more difficult to do than it should have been,” he said. “And I would like to suggest to my colleagues and to the American people that we should focus on October 1 of this year.”

After negotiating with state insurance commissioners through the summer, insurance companies set their rates for next year in October.
Early projections show they’re expected to balloon without some kind of intervention. Alexander reminded Senators that those rates will come out just a month before the midterm elections.

“There will be 11 million people who are between jobs, who are self-employed, who are working, who literally cannot afford insurance and they’re not going to be very happy campers,” Alexander said. “They’re going to blame every one of us, and they should.”

A consulting firm has estimated that a proposal like the Alexander-Murray bill
could lower rates substantially.

The bill — written in tandem with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington — includes $10 billion a year for states to fund special insurance for their sickest residents. These so-called “high risk pools” have been tried before, even in Tennessee, with mixed success. The legislation would also give states more flexibility on what plans can be sold on the marketplace.

Senator Alexander is trying to tie the measure to a big government spending bill set for a vote next week.