Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is on board with President Barack Obama’s decision to allow individuals to extend their current health insurance plans for one year — and with Gov. Peter Shumlin’s preliminary decision to table a delay in implementation of Vermont’s mandatory health care exchange program.
Obama needed to offer that one-year extension in order to keep his word, Welch said. The president had repeatedly said that Americans who like their health insurance plans could keep them under the Affordable Care Act, which was not true for plans that failed to meet minimum requirements.
“The bottom line is this is an issue that the president is addressing. He made a promise and a promise made is a promise kept,” Welch said.
The decision is also expected to bring Democratic lawmakers, who were threatening to break ranks with the White House, back into the fold.
Welch said he thinks Congress needs to be fully committed to “rolling up our sleeves” and fixing problems with the Affordable Care Act. To that end, he’s backing legislation drafted by House Democrats, which mirrors the executive order Obama announced Thursday. The GOP-led House is expected to vote it down.
Beyond that, Welch said he didn’t plan to support other immediate legislative “fixes” that are being floated in Congress.
“Right now the two priorities are the website — that’s got to be operational — and, number two, keeping the commitment the president made,” Welch said.
The House approved legislation Friday, drafted by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., that would allow people to continue to purchase new plans that don’t meet the ACA standards. Obama, whose order only permits people already on those plans to keep them for a year, has said he will veto Upton’s bill if it reaches his desk.
Welch said that the bill “reintroduces a race to the bottom” for insurance policies and would undermine the ACA.
Vermont’s lone representative said he would defer to Shumlin on the decision to not permit Vermonters to extend their plans for a full year. And while he encouraged constituents to call his office if they are having problems with the exchange, he trusts that the Shumlin administration will remedy the situation.
“The state is really taking the lead on this,” Welch said. “Of course I’m reading that there are some issues there, but right now most of the issues arising are being handled by the governor and the people in Montpelier.”
