GOP Health Care Compromise Includes Exemption for Congress

The crafters of a revised House GOP health care reform package included a carve-out for members of Congress and their staffers — allowing them to retain several popular Obamacare provisions even if their home states opt out of those aspects of the law.

The new proposal to tweak the American Health Care Act, known as the MacArthur Amendment, was circulated Tuesday and allows individual states to withdraw from several provisions of Obamacare if they choose. The amendment is the product of negotiations between leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the moderate Tuesday group.

“The best evidence yet that the new GOP repeal plan is a disaster for people’s health care is that the GOP exempted members of Congress from living under it.”

It would allow states to remove protections for pre-existing conditions, meaning, if invoked, insurers could charge higher premiums for high-risk patients. But the amendment would shield federal lawmakers and their staff if states exercised the opt-out provision.

“The best evidence yet that the new GOP repeal plan is a disaster for people’s health care is that the GOP exempted members of Congress from living under it,” Leslie Dach, director of the liberal-aligned Protect Our Care Campaign, told The Hill.

The exemption in the MacArthur Amendment was first reported by the left-wing site Vox.

Vox writer Sarah Kliff noted, “If Congressional aides lived in a state that decided to waive these protections, the aides who were sick could be vulnerable to higher premiums than the aides that are healthy. Their benefits package could get skimpier as Obamacare’s essential health benefits requirement may no longer apply either.”

The compromise package has already won praise from conservative organizations who vigorously opposed the first iteration of the AHCA, including the Club for Growth.

“Since the AHCA was released, conservatives have done the GOP an enormous favor by pushing for needed changes that will benefit taxpayers, including the immediate repeal of Obamacare’s taxes … this latest agreement would give states the chance to opt out of some of Obamacare’s costliest regulations, opening the way to greater choice and lower insurance premiums,” said Club for Growth president David McIntosh in a prepared statement, “It’s a solution that we’ve supported for weeks, and the time to move forward is now.”

[lz_related_box id=”776991″]

Members of the House Freedom Caucus were cautious to declare victory on the negotiated GOP compromise, but expressed optimism the new plan would advance.

“We’re evaluating this amendment, and we’re looking to debate this as a caucus before we make a final decision,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told reporters Tuesday.

“I’m obviously very supportive of Tom MacArthur and his efforts and [House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg] Walden (R-Ore.) and his efforts,” Meadows added. “So I can tell you the efforts they have put forth are to be applauded.”

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), a House Freedom Caucus member, said, “I would not be the most shocked person in the building if we voted it this week out of the House,” adding, “it seems to me it is going in a very good direction.”

The carve-out for lawmakers and their staff could provide a political hiccup to the amendment that otherwise seems poised to win widespread GOP support.