The House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on a Republican-backed health care bill that expands access to association health plans but won’t take up an amendment vote on a bipartisan compromise to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of the year.
The enhanced tax credits, which have helped lower premium costs for millions of Americans who purchase health insurance coverage on the ACA marketplace, will expire on December 31. Without an extension, the average yearly premiums for coverage are expected to increase 114 percent.
Despite a push to consider a bipartisan measure to extend the subsidies for two years along with changes to the program, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he will not hold a vote on the amendment, according to The Wall Street Journal. Although a group of Republican lawmakers wanted to have a vote on extending the subsidies, Johnson said they could not find a way to pay for the extension, which the Congressional Budget Office projects will cost $35 billion a year.
Last week the Senate failed to advance Democratic- and Republican-backed health care proposals. Democrats wanted to extend the subsidies for three years and Republicans wanted to deposit money directly into consumers’ health savings accounts. This week a group of bipartisan Senators have met to discuss a proposal that would extend the enhanced tax credits for two years along with income eligibility cap changes and fraud prevention, Politico reports. However, it is unlikely a Senate vote on the proposal will take place before January.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will vote on a Republican-backed measure called the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act that Johnson says will lower health care premiums, increases health care access and choices and offers greater transparency. It doesn’t include an extension of the subsidies nor funding of health savings accounts.
Johnson said the proposed legislation will allow employers to band together across industries to purchase association health plans and would enhance access to “stop-loss” policies for insurers to protect against catastrophic insurance claims. To lower premiums, funds would be available beginning in 2027 for cost-sharing reductions to reduce out-of-pocket spending for lower-income ACA enrollees.