Senate Republicans block bill to renew health insurance subsidies
Americans who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will pay higher premiums due to the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits at the end of 2025.
The Republican majority in the U.S. Senate blocked a Democratic bill on Dec. 11 that would have extended an expiring tax credit that helps 22 million Americans afford their health insurance premiums.
The Senate voted 51-48 for the Lower Health Care Costs Act, a bill sponsored by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that would have extended the expansion of the advance premium tax credit for three years, nine short of the 60 votes required for passage. The temporary credit was enacted under President Joe Biden and expires at the end of 2025.
New Jersey Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim both voted for the proposal.
“No family should have to choose between affording essential health care and making ends meet,” Booker said in a Dec. 5 press release. “Yet, this is exactly what Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are forcing hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans to do with their refusal to bolster ACA subsidies.”
According to the release, a family of four earning $130,000 a year would see an 100% increase in their premiums. And for a family earning $64,000, premiums would increase by over 200%.
On average, New Jerseyans who buy insurance through the marketplace will see their monthly premiums increase more than 16% on Jan. 1.
According to a KFF Health Tracking Poll released in November, 74% of Americans believe Congress should extend the enhanced premium tax credits.
President Donald Trump opposed any extension, saying in a Nov. 18 Truth Social post: “THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I WILL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE, WITH NOTHING GOING TO THE BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES, WHO HAVE MADE $TRILLIONS, AND RIPPED OFF AMERICA LONG ENOUGH. THE PEOPLE WILL BE ALLOWED TO NEGOTIATE AND BUY THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, INSURANCE. POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Congress, do not waste your time and energy on anything else.”
In addition to blocking the extension, 51 Republicans voted for a bill offered by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), also falling short of the required 60. If enacted, that legislation would have replaced the tax credits with health savings account subsidies to help those who obtain catastrophic health insurance plans — cheap plans with very high deductibles.
“Let’s give power to the patient, not profit to the insurance company,” Cassidy argued in a Dec. 4 floor speech. “Let’s make health care affordable again!”
“Their bill is junk insurance,” Schumer told reporters on Dec. 9. “It’s been repudiated in the past. The American people will repudiate it once again because it is junk insurance that puts the burden on people. We should call it what it is: misdirection, smoke and mirrors, a cover up, blocking the ACA tax credits that keep health care costs down.”
