Competing Health Care Proposals Start Flying Just Weeks Before Premiums Are Set To Skyrocket

Just one week before members of Congress leave town for the holidays, Republicans in both the House and Senate are scrambling to get some kind of proposal through their respective chambers ahead of a spike in the cost of premiums next year. In a sign of how poorly that effort is going, rank-and-file members have started throwing out their own pieces of legislation to try to get something done. Speaker Mike Johnson has been saying for months that extending the Biden-era enhanced premium tax credits was “a December policy issue.” Fearing that Mr. Johnson and Republicans would not follow through on holding a floor vote, they went so far as to block a government funding bill for more than seven weeks. Now, with a drastic increase in health care costs looming, Mr. Johnson and Senator John Thune are hoping they can put some kind of bill on the floor before the end of next week. In just the last few days, a number of GOP senators have put forward proposals to extend the tax credits. Senator Jon Husted — who is facing a competitive race in Ohio next year — released his legislation on Tuesday, which would extend the subsidies for two years with certain reforms. Insurers who take the tax credits would not be able to cover abortion services, new income caps would be put in place, and restricts the tax credits so that they can only go to U.S. citizens. Immigrants who are legally in the United States are currently eligible for those subsidies through the Affordable Care Act exchange. Senator Roger Marshall, who is a doctor, also released his own bill on Tuesday — something he is calling “The Marshall Plan.” Dr. Marshall’s bill would extend the tax credits for only one year, after which Americans of low- to middle-income would be entitled to access government-funded insurance accounts, which would be phased out after five years.The House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, said the recent introduction of various health care reform bills is a sign that Republicans are flailing. Mr. Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer are pushing for a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies. That legislation will receive a vote in the Senate on Thursday. Senator Rick Scott introduced his more drastic legislation last month, which would use funds that otherwise would go to the subsidies for health savings accounts. A similar piece of legislation was introduced by the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senator Bill Cassidy, on Monday. “Here we are: [the] clock is ticking in December. The Affordable Care Act tax credits expire on the 31st — at the end of the month — and bills are still being introduced now?” Mr. Jeffries said. “The most meaningful path forward clearly is for just a handful of Republicans to join us … to vote in the next day or so on the bill that will be on the Senate floor that will extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”Mr. Thune said at a press conference Tuesday that Democrats’ vote on Thursday for their clean three-year extension will fail in his chamber. As an alternative, he will offer up Dr. Cassidy’s bill — something Democrats say will also fail. It would take 60 votes to end debate and proceed to final passage on either of the pieces of legislation. “It delivers the benefit directly to the patient, not to the insurance company,” Mr. Thune told reporters of Dr. Cassidy’s bill. “We’ll see where the Democrats come down on that.”Mr. Schumer said Tuesday that there is no way Dr. Cassidy’s legislation will pass. “Those kinds of proposals don’t get the American people’s support or Democrats’ support,” Mr. Schumer said on the floor on Tuesday.

Competing Health Care Proposals Start Flying Just Weeks Before Premiums Are Set To Skyrocket

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