Senate Republicans, trying to counter Democrats on rising health insurance premiums, intend to hold a vote this week on a plan that would allow Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire at the end of the year and instead send money for health care costs directly to Americans who purchase bare-bones health insurance coverage.
Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, said on Tuesday that Republicans would offer the legislation, written by the Republican senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Crapo of Idaho, as their alternative to a Democratic proposal for a three-year extension of tax credits enacted during the pandemic.
Both proposals are expected to come to a vote on Thursday, part of a commitment that Republicans made to Democrats last month in exchange for ending the government shutdown. But neither is likely to draw the 60 votes necessary to advance, making it all but certain that the subsidies will expire at the end of the year with no action by Congress.
The Republican measure would replace the expanded tax credits with a program that would provide direct payments to Americans earning less than 700 percent of the federal poverty level who purchase health insurance plans with high deductibles and low premiums. The payments, which would be deposited into tax-advantaged health savings accounts, would be $1,000 for people aged 18 to 49 and $1,500 for those 50 to 64. People could spend the money as they see fit on medical services, but none of it could be used toward for abortion services or gender treatments.
Republican leaders had considered not offering an alternative to the Democratic proposal, since the party has struggled to come to a consensus on its own approach and would prefer not to divide its members. But many Republicans wanted some legislation to vote on, to show that the party had its own health care ideas and to provide some political cover on an issue that is likely to be at the center of midterm congressional campaigns next year.
“There will be something out there that Republicans will be able to talk about and support and vote for,” Mr. Thune said.
The authors of the legislation say it would funnel federal help with rising health care costs more directly to consumers rather than to insurance companies they say have run up huge profits under the existing plan.
“We want power to the patients, not profit to the insurance companies,” Mr. Cassidy said.
Senate Democrats immediately assailed the Republican legislation as inadequate “junk insurance” and suggested no Democrat in the chamber would support it.
“Their plan is a non-starter,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader. “They are so struggling that they couldn’t come up with a real plan and instead of the total embarrassment of having no plan, they have the total embarrassment of having a plan that’s been rejected over and over again.”
A second Republican plan that would extend the subsidies for two years and impose some new financial constraints while a more long-term solution was developed was not selected as the party’s preferred alternative.
Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent for The Times, primarily writing about Congress and national political races and issues. He has nearly four decades of experience reporting in the nation’s capital.
The post G.O.P. Will Counter Democrats’ Bid to Preserve Subsidies With Their Own Plan appeared first on New York Times.
