GOP Proposals For High-Risk Pools Could Face Conservative Opposition

Bloomberg Politics (8/20) reports that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) this week rolled out ACA replacement plans, both of which endorse the idea of using state-based high-risk pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions. However, a “major problem” with this idea is that congressional Republicans “have refused to spend even a fraction of the money that conservative experts say is necessary to make the plan work.” In fact, a 2013 effort by House GOP leaders to fund high-risk pools was stymied by “strong opposition from conservative lawmakers.” The article notes a 2010 paper “by conservative health-policy experts James Capretta and Tom Miller in National Affairs estimated that it would cost $15 to $20 billion per year for a ‘comprehensive set of high-risk pool programs’ aimed at covering between 2 and 4 million people.”