WASHINGTON – With the collapse of the GOP’s last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare, Sen. Lamar Alexander said Tuesday he is restarting bipartisan talks to stabilize health insurance markets and bring down premiums.

Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs a key committee, said he will consult with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and other Republicans and Democrats “to see if senators can find consensus on a limited bipartisan plan that could be enacted into law to help lower premiums and make insurance available to the 18 million Americans in the individual market in 2018 and 2019.”

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Alexander said he would have voted for a separate bill sponsored by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. But GOP leaders decided not to hold a vote on that bill because it did not have the support needed to pass.

“I would have voted for the Graham-Cassidy proposal because it meant more money and more state decision-making for Tennessee and would have helped control the federal debt,” said Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“But Graham-Cassidy primarily would have affected 2020 and beyond,” Alexander said. “I’m still concerned about the next two years and Congress has an opportunity to slow down premium increases in 2018, begin to lower them in 2019, and do our best to make sure there are no counties where people have zero options to buy health insurance.”

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Hospital and physician leaders as well as patient advocates —such as the Alzheimer's Association Mid South Chapter — from around Tennessee opposed Graham-Cassidy and wanted the Senate to take a bipartisan approach.

Graham-Cassidy was "a hugely unpopular bill" and it's "time to put aside partisanship and resume the process that Sen. Lamar Alexander had started, so that Congress can find pragmatic solutions that work for everyone," said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center.

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Alexander pulled the plug last week on his talks with Murray, the Senate health committee’s top Democrat, saying they had been unable to reach a consensus on a bill that could pass.

The two senators began working for a bipartisan deal after the collapse in July of the GOP’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Their goal was a limited, short-term fix that could provide relief from higher premiums for 18 million Americans who buy individual coverage on one of the marketplaces created under Obamacare.

Insurers are set to sign final contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to sell insurance at premiums already approved by the state on Sept. 27.

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Alexander’s decision to end the talks came amid reports that the White House and House GOP leaders have made it clear they would not support a bipartisan Obamacare fix and a push by Senate GOP leaders to pass the Graham-Cassidy legislation.

That bill also collapsed when three Republicans — Rand Paul of Kentucky, John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine — opposed the legislation, denying the measure the 50 votes it needed to pass. Senate Republicans announced Tuesday they will not put the bill to a vote.

Murray stressed Tuesday she was ready to resume the bipartisan talks.

“We need to pick up right back where we left off, and we need to do it right now,” Murray said.

Before the talks ended last week, the committee held four hearings in which state insurance regulators, governors, insurers, health care advocates and other experts called for giving states more flexibility to design and regulate insurance plans.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and state Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak were among those who testified before the panel.

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The senators were hoping to reach a deal that would give states more flexibility to design and regulate health insurance plans and continue the federal cost-sharing payments that enable insurers to reduce premiums for lower-income and middle-class Americans.