From The Hill: Separate Senate Republican contingents are floating competing proposals on health care, as the party struggles to unify behind a plan to stop looming premium hikes.
GOP leaders are faced with a political dilemma: Either they extend the subsidies and endorse ObamaCare, which Republicans have long opposed, or they let the subsidies expire ahead of next year’s midterms and deal with the fallout.
Some Republicans want a deal to preserve the enhanced subsidies, heading off voter ire and preventing an election-year nightmare scenario for the GOP. Others want the enhanced subsidies to expire and be replaced by direct cash to Americans, convinced they can blame Democrats for high costs.
On Monday, the Consumer Affordability and Responsibility Enhancement (CARE) Act was introduced by GOP Sens. Bernie Moreno (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine). It would extend the expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies for two years. To appeal to conservatives, it also includes reforms such as an income cap for households earning $200,000 or more, and requiring a $25 minimum monthly payment.
“A handful of bipartisan plans floated in the House offer similar ideas,” The Hill reports.
A separate proposal being circulated by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) would redirect the money into Health Savings Accounts paired with bronze or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges.
Read more at The Hill
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