Shaheen, Hassan Co-Sponsor Bipartisan Legislation to Lower Health Care Costs for Patients & Families Nationwide, Stabilize Individual Insurance Market

(Washington, DC) – Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined a bipartisan group of 24 co-sponsors, led by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Leadership, for legislation to lower premiums and improve quality of care for patients and families across the country.

The Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 will help stabilize the individual insurance market in an effort to prevent premium spikes as a result of President Trump’s sabotage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill is a culmination of bipartisan efforts, which includes the Senate HELP Committee’s multiple hearings – which Senator Hassan participated in as a member of the committee – with governors, state insurance commissioners, doctors, medical professionals and experts to help craft legislation to lower costs while defending critical protections for patients. The bill includes a provision that the New Hampshire Insurance Department could use to support its proposal to create a reinsurance pool to help reduce premiums in the state’s individual health insurance market. 

“We urgently need this healthcare stabilization bill to begin repairing the catastrophic damage caused by the President’s purposeful sabotage of the Affordable Care Act,” said Senator Shaheen. “I’m proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation, which already has significant support from both sides of the aisle and would easily pass if given a vote. It’s time for Congress to move forward on this legislation and finally make bipartisan progress on healthcare, as the American people have been calling for.”

“This bipartisan bill is an important step forward in our efforts to stabilize health insurance markets and lower costs for hard-working Americans, and it reinforces that it is possible to work across party lines to make progress in our health care system,” Senator Hassan said. “It is clear that this bill has the votes to pass, and I strongly urge Leader McConnell to bring this bill to the floor for a vote without delay.”

Republicans cosponsoring: Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Bob Corker (R-Tenn).

Democrats cosponsoring: Angus King (I-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).

Senators Hassan and Shaheen have been pushing their colleagues for months to act to help stabilize health insurance markets and lower premiums on consumers.

Senator Shaheen has been leading efforts in the Senate to provide marketplace stability by permanently continuing and increasing eligibility for cost-sharing reduction payments. Her bill, the Marketplace Certainty Act, which Senator Hassan cosponsored, would make cost-sharing reduction payments permanent and expand eligibility to more working Americans. Senators Hassan and Shaheen also helped introduce the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act to create a permanent reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market, similar to the successful programs used to lower premiums and spur competition in the Medicare Part D program.

The bill language is here.