This news is worth passing on solely based on the fact that Bipartisan Effort is mentioned. That doesn't happen very often in the benefits world.
The Washington Post (9/5, Goldstein, Eilperin) reports the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold the first of four hearings seeking to build agreement on strengthening the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces, in “the closest collaboration between Republicans and Democrats in years.” Chairman Lamar Alexander and ranking Democrat Patty Murray “are eager to” mandate “cost-sharing reduction” payments, which President Trump has threatened to end. However, the two disagree on the duration of the subsidies, granting insurers flexibility over “essential health benefits” coverage, and the creation of a “reinsurance” pool to defray insurers’ costs for policyholders with costly medical conditions.