Senate Republican leadership announced Tuesday that they will bring their own healthcare proposal to a floor vote, running in parallel
Senate Republican leadership announced Tuesday that they will bring their own healthcare proposal to a floor vote, running in parallel with Democrats’ push for an extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on a Democrat proposal for a three-year extension of the boosted subsidies, which Democrats secured as part of the deal that ended the record-breaking government shutdown. Following internal debate over several Republican healthcare proposals and whether to schedule a side-by-side vote, GOP senators have coalesced around a health savings account-based approach.
“It actually does make health insurance premiums more affordable,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. “It delivers the benefit directly to the patient, not to the insurance company, and it does it in a way that actually saves money to the taxpayer. That is a win-win proposal.”
The Health Care Freedom for Patients Act— sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Mike Crapo, chair of the Senate Finance Committee — is pitched as an “alternative to Democrats’ temporary COVID bonuses, which send billions of tax dollars to giant insurance companies without lowering insurance premiums.”
Under the plan, roughly $1,000 to $1,500 would be deposited into HSAs paired with bronze or catastrophic plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges.
The idea of redirecting federal subsidies from insurance companies directly to individuals has the backing of President Donald Trump, who has warned that extending the boosted Obamacare subsidies would hand insurers “another huge payday at the expense of the American people.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing ahead with their three-year extension of the soon-to-expire subsidies, despite the near certainty that the measure lacks the 60 votes needed to pass.
