A group of 35 House Republicans and Democrats on Thursday released a plan to scale back and extend for two years the Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, a long-shot effort to address soaring health care premiums.
The plan has the backing of roughly 15 Republicans — far short of the “majority of the majority” that has become the standard level of support needed to compel House leadership to allow a bill to receive a floor vote.
Almost all of the Republicans who endorsed the measure represent swing districts and expect to face tough re-election races next year, underscoring how potent the issue of rising costs have become. With enhanced health insurance tax credits set to expire at the end of the month, Democrats have been intensifying pressure on Republicans to join them in backing an extension, their chief demand in the government shutdown fight that ended without any action to address the issue.
The new House proposal, led by Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey and Jen Kiggans, Republican of Virginia, would extend and reduce the tax credits in a two-step process, requiring two separate votes by Congress. The first vote would extend the tax credits for a year with some modifications, including the addition of a new income limit. The second would implement what the group described as “more significant reforms,” including potentially eliminating $0 premiums, with exceptions for need-based support.
“We’re calling for a vote by Dec. 18 in both chambers of Congress to get something done before premiums rise in January,” Mr. Gottheimer said at a news conference at the Capitol on Thursday. “As part of our plan, we’ll also work together on a menu of longer term reforms to help families continue to save on their premiums.”
Ms. Kiggans said she had “40,000 people in my district who rely on this health care.”
“Doing nothing to prevent a spike in their premiums is wrong,” she said.
Whether her party might act remains to be seen. There is little appetite among most House Republicans to extend a provision of the Affordable Care Act, a law most of them revile.
President Trump has not weighed in on the issue publicly, though last month he was reportedly considering backing an extension of the insurance subsidies. That came amid warnings from his pollsters that voters could punish Republicans at the ballot box in November if the subsidies were not extended and Americans saw spiking premium costs.
In the Senate, Democrats plan to force a vote next week on a three-year extension of the tax credits that would leave them at their current levels, with no income limits or other reductions. It is expected to fail for lack of G.O.P. support, but party leaders are eager to use the vote to prosecute their case in the midterms against Republicans.
“It’s going to be one of the most important votes we take,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on Thursday. “Because it’s showing who is on the side of the American people and lowering their health care costs and who is on the side of the big special interests and is going to raise health care costs.”
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.
The post Bipartisan House Group Proposes Long-Shot Health Care Plan appeared first on New York Times.
