Commissioners urge Senate to oppose Graham-Cassidy proposal

Eleven state insurance commissioners and 25 former commissioners today urged congressional leaders to oppose the Graham-Cassidy proposal to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. “Instead, we ask that you work toward a bipartisan bill that would improve market stability,” the current and former commissioners wrote. “At a time when state insurance markets urgently need greater stability and predictability, this bill would go in the wrong direction. The Cassidy-Graham bill would increase the number of people without health coverage and severely disrupt states’ individual insurance markets, with sharp premium increases and insurer exits likely to occur in the short term and over time.” The letter was signed by insurance commissioners from Pennsylvania, Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Colorado, New York and Oregon; and by former commissioners from Oregon, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maine, Illinois, West Virginia, California, D.C., New Jersey, Montana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, Iowa and Montana.