Dec. 4 (UPI) — Senate Democrats intend to force a vote next week on a proposed three-year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits to offset premium costs.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday said Senate Democrats will force a vote to extend the ACA tax credits that were intended to be temporary when enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic but that expire at the end of the month.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, D-S.D., earlier said he would allow a vote on the matter, and Schumer said he expects every Senator who caucuses with Senate Democrats to support the extension.
“This is the bill, a clean three-year extension of ACA tax credits that Democrats will bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote next Thursday,” Schumer said Thursday while speaking on the Senate Floor. “Every single Democrat will support it.”
The proposal would limit ACA premiums to 8.5% of policyholders’ incomes, Shumer said, as reported by NBC News.
Passage also would prevent average ACA health insurance premiums from more than doubling, while also positioning the matter as a campaign issue during the 2028 general election.
For the measure to pass in the Senate, it would need 60 votes, which would require the support of at least 13 Republicans in addition to the 47 Senators who caucus with the Senate Democrats.
Thune has said Senate Republicans are willing to negotiate healthcare subsidies with Senate Democrats, but Thune and others want to place greater restrictions on abortion coverage in the insurance plans.
If the measure fails, House Democrats hope it will sway support and enable them to win a majority during the 2026 midterm elections, Politico reported.
Schumer said the vote will increase political pressure on Senate Republicans to support the extension in lieu of an alternative GOP-sponsored healthcare plan.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has said he will propose a bill that would create health savings accounts and replace ACA tax credits with federal contributions to those accounts.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., similarly is proposing the creation of health care accounts using ACA tax subsidies funds to offset the cost of health insurance purchased outside of the federal health insurance marketplace that was created by the ACA.
President Donald Trump also has said he wants to create an entirely new healthcare law that would replace the ACA, but he delayed that proposal in November.
