WASHINGTON — Prospects for extending health care subsidies are fading in Congress as bipartisan discussions have largely fallen by the wayside, raising concerns that millions of Americans might face significant premium increases starting January 1.
Earlier this month, Democrats agreed to reopen the government with the expectation of a December vote on health care. They hoped for collaboration with Republicans to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to help Americans afford health coverage. However, instead of engaging in cross-party dialogue, lawmakers have been entrenched in internal discussions, revisiting age-old partisan debates over the health care law.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune remarked on Tuesday, “I don’t think at this point we have a clear path forward, I don’t think the Democrats have a clear path forward,” following a Republican meeting focused on various proposals to modify the law.
The current stalemate suggests that the upcoming Senate vote, anticipated next week, might simply serve as a party-line statement with little hope of actual passage. According to the agreement that ended the recent government shutdown, Democrats control which legislation is brought to the floor for a vote. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has hinted at leaning towards a straightforward extension of the subsidies without introducing any new limitations or changes, a proposal Republicans have already dismissed.
“So far the Republicans are in total disarray and have no plan,” Schumer stated on Tuesday. “We have a plan.”
While Democrats express readiness to negotiate and have shown some willingness to consider new restrictions on the subsidies, they identify two major obstacles to progress: the absence of guidance from President Donald Trump and the Republicans’ insistence on including abortion funding in the discussions.
“Our Republican colleagues aren’t going to engage with us” unless Trump weighs in, said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “That’s the paralysis here.”
Abortion issue holds up compromise
Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, was part of the group that struck a deal to end the shutdown. He says there have been some informal bipartisan discussions since then, but says they stalled as Republicans insisted on stricter abortion restrictions on Affordable Care Act plans.
“They have set up a red line that is also a red line for the Democrats,” King said of Republicans. “So they’re going to own these increases.”
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who has said he wants to see the tax credits extended, said the issue “should not be a deal-killer” since a ban on federal funding for abortions is already in the law.
Democrats say current law should be sufficient. While many states ban abortion coverage from all plans in the ACA marketplaces, others allow or require abortion coverage that isn’t paid for with federal funding.
Republicans weigh different plans
Beyond the abortion issue, many Republicans have said for years that they want to see the ACA scrapped or overhauled. But there is still little consensus in the GOP about whether to do that or how.
Republican senators have discussed several competing proposals in recent weeks. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have suggested creating different types of health savings accounts that would change the way people buy insurance — an idea that Trump has endorsed in social media posts without much detail. Other senators have suggested extending the subsidies with new limits on income.
Thune said Tuesday that “we will see where the Republicans come down, but that conversation continues.”
Republicans want to work on a constructive solution, he said, “but that hasn’t landed yet.”
In the House lawmakers were also discussing different ideas. But there was no indication that any of them could be ready by the end of the year or generate enough bipartisan support.
“Health care is a very complicated issue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday, while insisting that Republicans were still “pulling ideas together.”
Trump gives little guidance
Lawmakers in both parties have said it will be hard to move forward without Trump’s support for a plan. But the president has yet to formally endorse any legislation.
Last week, the White House circulated a proposal to extend the subsidies with some limits, like new income caps and a requirement that all recipients pay some sort of premium. The proposal would also have allowed those in lower-tier plans, such as the bronze-level or catastrophic plans, to put money into health savings accounts.
But the proposal was never released.
Asked last week whether he wants to extend the subsidies, Trump appeared to refer to the leaked plan, saying that “somebody said I wanted to extend it for two years. … I’d rather not extend them at all.”
Still, he acknowledged that some sort of extension may be “necessary.”
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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Lisa Mascaro and Ali Swenson contributed to this report.
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