Senate GOP Sets Doomed Vote to Replace Health Subsidies

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republicans plan to vote this week on a likely futile plan to counter Democrats’ push to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies as health care costs for more than 20 million people are set to spike on Jan. 1.

Neither the Republican legislation announced Tuesday nor Democrats’ proposed three-year extension are expected to get the 60 votes needed for Senate passage. For some Americans, health insurance premiums will double or triple in the new year as the Covid-era tax credits expire.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised Democrats a vote to extend enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits, in exchange for reopening the government last month. Republicans have grown increasingly antsy as they face the prospect of voting against Democrats’ three-year extension without an alternative of their own to support instead.

The proposal, crafted by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Crapo of Idaho, would offer people in some Affordable Care Act health plans up to $1,500 each of the next two years in tax-advantaged health savings accounts. It also would fund cost-sharing reduction payments. However, the package also includes restrictions related to immigration, abortion and gender transition services that could ruin the chances of Democratic support.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/senate-gop-sets-doomed-vote-195804831.html

GOP moves to let Obamacare subsidies expire as Trump promises ‘money to the people’

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are moving decisively away from extending key Obamacare tax credits that help more than 20 million Americans pay for health insurance — following direct cues from President Donald Trump while also stoking ire among many in the GOP who fear severe political repercussions.

In a Monday interview with POLITICO, Trump refused to endorse a continuation of the expiring subsidies, even as his administration faces mounting pressure to address rising costs for Americans. He instead laid out his own vision for health care: “I want to give the money to the people, not to the insurance companies.”

Senate Republicans now plan to offer a proposal for a vote Thursday that would let the subsidies expire and instead encourage the use of health savings accounts. That abrupt shift in strategy is in turn putting new pressure on House GOP leaders to come up with their own health plan, according to four people who attended a closed-door meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson and senior Republicans Tuesday afternoon.

Yet after months of pressure from competing factions, lawmakers inside the meeting didn’t reach a conclusion and Johnson is still trying to figure out what that plan should be. House GOP staff Tuesday were prepping a health care framework to give Republicans something to vote on next week before they leave Washington for the holidays — one that, for now, does not include an extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/gop-moves-let-obamacare-subsidies-234813257.html

The Greedy Old Pigs still haven't given us our Doge dividends or our Tariff refund. Now they want us to believe they'll give us money for health savings accounts.

[a kennedy]

1. and May I say again FAWK EM ALL!!!!!!

🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬

[Alpeduez21]

2. Remember those 8 democratic senators who caved?

I do. We got fucked

[EdmondDantes_]

5. It's obviously not certain we would have gotten the extended subsidies by continuing to keep government closed

Do you have an example of the minority getting major concessions in that situation? Sometimes neither side of a binary choice gets you what you want.

[Alpeduez21]

8. We definitely got nothing by once a-fucking-gain

Capitulating to the lying duplicitous repukes. We had momentum from the election. We had public sentiment on our side we had some power. Now what do we have? A weak fucking chin that’s what. It’s cold and lonely on the moral high ground.

[EdmondDantes_]

9. So that's a no I guess

The relevant pivot points were when we extended the additional subsidies in 2022 and the 2024 elections.

You are expecting Democrats to do in the minority what we didn't do when we had a majority (admittedly a very narrow one). If you can't present a case for how we were going to get what you want through holding out, it's not really fair to blame others for taking a different path since from what I can see the odds were zero either way.

[Lovie777]

3. Neither vote will get 60 votes to my understanding...................

unless GQP filibuster.

Therefore, it's on the GQP failing the 20 million or so.

The way I see it, the GQP no matter what was never going to pass it. shithole owns this as well.

[Bettie]

4. But, I was told that those 8 senators

were saving the subsidies by caving....for this vote.

That won't save anything. It will, however, be a BIG nail in the ACA's coffin...and a the coffins of people who die for lack of insurance or ability to pay for care.

[bmichaelh]

6. Crapo-Cassidy Bill

I know we should not make fun of people's last names, but crap is a good description of this bill.

I can imagine the puns that late night hosts will use over the coming days.

[bmichaelh]

7. Lymphoma Survivor

Currently, I get my health insurance from my employer.

Eventually, I will have to get my insurance through exchanges.

I am about 3 years from retirement.

I was first diagnosed with lymphoma in 1990.

I am in my third remission and undergoing maintenance treatments that cost almost $1 million a year.

My oncologist recommends me to continue these treatments, lest the lymphoma return.

I will find out later this month if my insurer will continue payments.

But this plan of GOP would not cover me.