Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker introduced a bill Wednesday that would allow Obamacare customers to use their subsidies to buy non-Obamacare health coverage if they live in areas where all of the insurers have pulled out. They'd also be exempt from the individual mandate. The law would be temporary, lasting only through the end of the 2019 plan year.
"There is...a real prospect that all 230,000 Tennesseans who buy insurance on the exchange—approximately 195,000 with a subsidy—won't have any plans to buy next year either, and millions of Americans in other states are facing the same dire circumstances," said Alexander, who is also chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Why this matters: If insurers pull out of markets due to all of the uncertainty surrounding Obamacare, this could help people from being thrown off their coverage. It's a sign that at least some Republicans want to avoid absolute chaos, as opposed to letting Obamacare "explode."
