Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is skeptical of a go-it-alone approach to healthcare reform, telling the Washington Examiner he prefers a deal with a “bipartisan pedigree.”
Thune said Republicans weren’t ruling out reconciliation, a budget process that sidesteps the filibuster, to achieve a spate of healthcare proposals preferred by conservatives. But he made clear there are no plans to pursue that path and that reconciliation would be a conversation for next year.
“I don’t take any options off the table,” Thune said in a brief interview. “But we’re certainly not planning that at this point.”
His remarks come as Senate Democrats demand the renewal of expiring Obamacare subsidies as part of the shutdown fight. Republicans, including Thune, have expressed openness to negotiating a narrower extension once the government is reopened, but conservatives believe that more can be done with a party-line vote.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who met with Thune and other conservatives last week, is advocating reforms that deregulate health insurance plans and would send government subsidies directly to consumers, rather than insurance companies, as the law currently dictates.
“I think it’s probably the only way it’s gonna get done,” Scott said of the reconciliation process, which Republicans successfully used to pass President Donald Trump’s tax law without Democratic votes in July.
There is a strong appetite for some healthcare reforms, with Thune naming cost-sharing reductions and legislation on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, as avenues with bipartisan support. PBMs have been accused of driving up healthcare costs as the go-between for insurers and drug benefits.
“Ideally, it’d be bipartisan. And there’s a bunch of bipartisan stuff,” Thune said.
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In the House, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the majority leader, has taken an outsize role in overseeing healthcare legislation and has been meeting with committee chairmen since the first reconciliation push.
In a Wednesday morning press conference, Scalise cited past House efforts at PBM legislation and noted that some healthcare changes, including more flexible health savings accounts, were stripped from the final tax law.
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.