WASHINGTON — Gov. John Hickenlooper plans to pitch Congress on his plan for health care reform Thursday morning — the latest tryout for both the idea and his future ambitions.
The Colorado Democrat is scheduled to before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and make the case that federal lawmakers should consider the he developed with Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.
The measure doesn’t call for a major overhaul of the Affordable Care Act but instead focuses on , an area that few Americans rely on for coverage but one that has run into trouble.
One recommendation is that Congress should create tax incentives to get health insurers to offer plans in under-served areas on the exchange. Another is that lawmakers should continue the ACA’s fine on Americans who don’t get insurance as a way to prod healthier consumers to enroll in the market.
Hickenlooper’s testimony on Thursday is the first of at least two appearances he’ll make in Washington this week; he also has plans to tout his idea co-hosted Friday by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the liberal Center for American Progress.
His schedule and rhetoric have helped fuel speculation that Hickenlooper is laying the groundwork for a future campaign, .
At Thursday’s hearing, the governor will be introduced by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a fellow Colorado Democrat.
“The Hickenlooper-Kasich plan proposes some common-sense fixes that could provide more certainty and increase competition and choice,” said Bennet in a statement. “As we continue our work on the HELP Committee to craft a bipartisan bill that improves our health care system, we’ll benefit from Governors Hickenlooper and Kasich’s ideas and collaboration.”