CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With the start of June there are still no indications on when the U.S. Senate could take up the U.S. House’s proposed American Health Care Act.
The bill is currently being worked on behind closed doors with many aspects expected to change. A vote in the U.S. Senate could potentially come sometime later this year.
West Virginia 2nd District Congressman Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) said what the U.S. House produced, a bill he voted for, is the answer to Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, which Mooney said has failed small states like West Virginia.
Mooney said the bill isn’t exactly what some Republicans had in mind, but its current form is an improvement on the current coverage system.
“I do think it’s a solution,” Mooney said. “It’s not the perfect bill, I was for repealing Obamacare completely, chapter and reverse. This bill doesn’t do that but I think it is the best we could do under the circumstances.”
The House’s version of the bill has been criticized by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and others on issues like the Medicaid expansion and how pre-existing conditions are addressed.
Mooney said he thinks the U.S. House has a solution for the questions surrounding Medicaid.
“The bill grandfathers in anyone who is in there now,” Mooney said. “There are still three more years to sign up, so the folks who are signed up are in.”
Mooney said after the three year period new sign ups will have to find another insurance plan.
“At some point folks have to go to a private market and find a plan that works for them,” Mooney said. “The key is to get the prices down so people can afford it.”
Mooney points to this as one of Obamacare’s biggest failures. In West Virginia, premiums have risen 169 percent since 2013, Capito previously claimed. Across the country, plans have gone up an average of 25 percent, she said.
“By trying to charge everyone the same amount, young people wouldn’t do it (enroll) at all, so it just went up for everybody else,” Mooney said. “So I think the question is how do you bring the price of healthcare down for everyone so they can afford a basic plan.”
The creation of high risk pools has also been a polarizing part of the House healthcare bill, but Mooney said other states have already solved that issue.
“Maine and Minnesota have instituted these high risk pool plans,” Mooney said. “From what I understand it has been very successful. The state manages it better than the federal government could and it keeps the costs down.”
Last week, President Donald Trump tweeted that he’s hopeful U.S. Republican senators “can quickly get together and pass a new (repeal and replace) healthcare bill.”