House Republicans unveiled details of their health care proposal on Friday ahead of a looming expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The bill includes several measures that have broad support among Republicans, including reinstating cost-sharing reductions and allowing small businesses to buy health insurance as a group. But it notably would not extend enhanced ACA subsidies, which are set to expire in just a few weeks.
The expiration of those subsidies is expected to cause premiums to more than double on average for roughly 22 million Americans.
“While Democrats demand that taxpayers write bigger checks to insurance companies to hide the cost of their failed law, House Republicans are tackling the real drivers of health care costs to provide affordable care, increase access and choice, and restore integrity to our nation’s health care system for all Americans,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.
The proposal is expected to be voted on next week. It’s unclear how likely it is to pass the House or the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Dueling health care proposals failed earlier this week in the Senate. One plan put forward by Republicans — which would replace subsidies with direct-to-consumer payments deposited into Health Savings Accounts — failed to clear the 60-vote threshold for cloture. A Democratic plan to extend ACA subsidies for three years also crumbled. Meanwhile, House Republicans have been hustling to come up with a proposal of their own. MS Now previously reported that 10 different ideas were presented at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, none of which included extending ACA subsidies. Democrats have been critical about Republican leadership’s refusal to extend ACA subsidies. In a statement Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the GOP proposal “the height of irresponsibility.” “The bill will cause millions of people to lose coverage, promotes junk health insurance plans and further limits the freedom of women to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions,” Jeffries said.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
