Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch blasted an "Obamacare bailout" today in a Washington Post op-ed, an obvious reference to the HELP Committee's efforts to fund the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing subsidies. These subsidies help insurers reduce out-of-pocket costs for their low-income customers — and if they disappear, premiums are expected to rise in 2018.
"Setting aside the valid question of whether pumping more money into an already failing system would have a significant impact on already skyrocketing premiums under Obamacare, a no-strings bailout would be extremely short-sighted," Hatch wrote, saying it would set up a reoccurring cliff every time the funding expires, which Democrats could use to extract political victories.