WASHINGTON (WLUK) — Time is almost up for Congress to prevent health insurance costs for 22 million Americans from skyrocketing, but a pair of Democratic and Republican proposals were both voted down Thursday.
Beginning Jan. 1, premiums on the health insurance marketplace will double on average, as enhanced subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year.
Wisconsin’s senators, Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Ron Johnson, each cast blame on the other side of the aisle.
“Today, we had a simple choice: vote to avert crisis for 275,000 Wisconsinites or greenlight higher costs for millions of Americans. I voted to prevent higher costs for Wisconsinites,” said Baldwin. “My Republican colleagues voted to double, triple or quadruple working families’ health care premiums.”
Johnson said, “If your premiums are going up, it’s not because the enhanced subsidies are going away. It’s because of the faulty design of Obamacare driving them. They’ve caused premiums to skyrocket.”
The Democratic bill that failed to pass Thursday would have extended the COVID-era subsidies for three years, while the GOP alternative would have replaced the subsidies with new health savings accounts.
Disagreements over funding for the nation’s health insurance system, known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, is what led to the record-long government shutdown on Capitol Hill this fall. President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending plan passed this summer rolled back significant portions of the ACA, and Democrats demanded that at least some of those cuts be reversed in exchange for their support of a funding bill.
At the heart of the issue is a pot of funding for insurance coverage under the ACA, which capped premiums at 8.5% of income, as was approved during the Biden administration. Democrats say ACA marketplace consumers could see their premiums rise by more than 75% on average when enhanced tax subsidies to purchase ACA marketplace insurance plans expire at the end of 2025, if the funding is not extended by the Republican-controlled Congress.
The GOP argues the premium tax credits are too costly to continue and were only intended for relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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