Newly empowered congressional Democrats are aiming to fulfill their pledges to quickly attempt to revive generous Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse Republicans’ Medicaid cuts when Congress convenes next year, according to two Democratic aides and another person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.
Democrats spent two years hammering on the economy, pledging to lower daily costs — such as health care and gas prices — for Americans. Top Democrats previously have said undoing changes to Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income Americans, and restoring the expired marketplace subsidies are top priorities for the party.
“We’re going to fight hard to make sure that we can ensure that every single American can afford to go see a doctor when they need one,” Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat in line to be the next House speaker, said in an election night victory speech. “We will fight for your hospitals. We will fight for your nursing home. We will fight for your community-based health clinics. And we’re going to fight to reverse these painful Medicaid cuts.”
Yet passing legislation generally needs 60 votes in the Senate, unless Democrats use a budget maneuver — known as reconciliation — to bypass that threshold. As of midday Wednesday, the party had won 54 seats. The precise timing and ways in which the party will seek to push their health agenda will be hammered out over the next several months, according to a Senate Democratic aide.
Even if their health care priorities landed on his desk, President Donald Trump — who said he probably would become “Mr. Veto” — is virtually certain to resist those plans, particularly efforts to roll back his sweeping 2025 tax law that enacted the Medicaid cuts.
Though the White House has sought to highlight its efforts to fight fraud in health care and tackle prescription drug prices, Democrats’ edge with voters on health care costs had risen from an advantage of 11 percentage points in April to a 20-point lead in September, according to KFF, a health policy research and news organization.
Democrats have blamed Republicans for the expiration of pandemic-era subsidies for those who get health insurance through the ACA’s marketplaces, boosting costs for some consumers in January. The standoff between the two parties on the issue helped lead to a temporary government shutdown last fall.
Premiums on federal and state-run ACA exchanges will jump by around 15 percent next year on average, according to a Washington Post analysis of finalized and proposed rate increases. Insurers cited several factors for the increase, including labor shortages and rising health care costs. This follows an even larger spike at the start of this year.
Yet among Democrats, there’s a recognition the party needs to go further on health care to deliver on their pledge to make everyday life more affordable for Americans. But those conversations historically have led to divisions among the party’s progressive and moderate wings on how far to expand government-run care.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), a progressive Democrat, and Terri Sewell (Alabama), a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, have sought to forge a consensus as the heads of House Democrats’ Cost of Living Healthcare Working Group. In a Sept. 1 memo to Jeffries obtained by The Washington Post, the group outlined policies that could be considered in the first 100 hours, first 100 days and first year of a new Congress.
The proposed health policies for the first 100 hours are wide-ranging, and include expanding Medicare drug price negotiation to encompass private insurance; keeping medical debt off credit reports; and adding dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare, the federal insurance program for older Americans and the disabled. The memo, first reported by Politico, was the result of 93 meetings and dozens of conversations with Democrats, staff and outside groups.
“There is broad consensus in the Democratic caucus that the Democratic agenda must both reverse the immediate harms of the administration while also taking bold action to rein in corporate monopolies, invest in a durable healthcare system, and pursue an ambitious path towards universal coverage,” the memo states.
In the Senate, Oregon’s Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that the panel is seeking to “create a new foundation for America’s health care system that guarantees health care for all, gives Americans cheaper and better health care, and ends the corporate chokehold on our nation’s health care system.” Wyden already had launched an effort to seek feedback on a wide range of health policy proposals, which could offer a road map for where the chamber could go next on health care.
Representatives for Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer (New York), the top Senate Democrat, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The post Democrats pledge to quickly reverse changes to Medicaid, restore ACA subsidies appeared first on Washington Post.
