WASHINGTON — Congress returned to session on Monday with uncertainty about the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, which expire on Dec. 31.
On Nov. 20, Sen. Rick Scott released his proposal for the More Affordable Care Act, which includes direct payments to a Trump Freedom health savings account to create competition.
“I will not support anything that doesn’t fix the cost of healthcare. That is the problem,” Scott said about efforts to extend the ACA subsidies.
More than 4 million in Florida rely on the ACA subsidies. To end the shutdown, Senate Majority John Thune, R-S.D., offered a vote by mid-December.
“There will be a vote on a bill that Democrats advance,” Sen. Angus King, D-Maine, told CNN.
There was Republican backlash after the White House signaled that President Donald Trump was considering extending the ACA subsidies for two more years.
In the House, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., was drafting a bipartisan proposal. It wasn’t clear if he had the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“I support doing everything we can to try to keep health care costs down,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart said during the federal government’s shutdown.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was worried that the open enrollment period had already started without a solution.
“People are having eye-popping sticker shock from their premiums,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit based in California, estimates that without the ACA subsidies about 24 million Americans will see increases of more than $1,000 a month.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told CNN on Sunday that the Senate will vote on a proposal before subsidies expire and Republicans will pay in the midterms.
“The Republicans have got to have a health care agenda, otherwise they’re going to be in deep trouble,” Karl Rove told Fox News on Sunday about the midterm elections.
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