Sen. Chuck Schumer: Democrats will work with the GOP on health care. But here are our stipulations.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Blaze

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would be willing to work with Republicans on health care reform.

But before Democrats even think about considering a GOP health care alternative, Schumer wants to make sure two aspects of the Affordable Care Act remain intact: Obamacare subsidies and insurance company bailouts.

“At the very beginning, we should stabilize the system,” Schumer said Friday, the Washington Examiner reported. “Make permanent the cost sharing, which keeps premiums low.”

Schumer said Senate Democrats also want to ensure insurance companies will receive a bailout, something Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) proposed in May, USA Today reported.

Once Republicans agree to those terms, Schumer says, Democrats are willing to “sit down and trade ideas.”

“There has to be a give and take,” Schumer said. “My colleagues and my caucus know that.”

Schumer said Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) vote against the “skinny repeal” of Obamacare might have been the push both parties needed to come together to compromise.

“Sometimes you need a spark that inspires the forces of coming together that outweigh the forces of pulling part,” Schumer said. “And John McCain may have done that.”

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Schumer would like to thank McCain for his support...