Both proposals appear likely to fall short of a required 60-vote threshold, though lawmakers from both parties are seeking common ground.
WASHINGTON—The Senate is poised for a Dec. 11 vote on competing measures to resolve the standoff over extending the expiring subsidies for Obamacare.
Both are likely to fall along party lines, and to fail to reach the 60-vote threshold required to advance legislation in the Senate.
The subsidies, officially known as enhanced premium tax credits, were created as a temporary measure in 2021 to blunt the economic impact of the COVID-19 national health emergency.
Originally offered for two years, the enhanced subsidies were further extended for three years and will expire at the end of this month.
Democrats, fearing that allowing the subsidies to expire now would cause financial hardship and cause millions of Americans to drop their health coverage, have proposed another three-year extension.
“Democrats have put forward the cleanest, fastest, most realistic solution, a three-year extension of the current tax credits,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Dec. 9.
Republicans, saying that the billions spent on these additional subsidies have contributed to rapidly rising insurance premiums and have given rise to opportunities for fraud, oppose an extension that does not address those issues.
“The bill [Democrats] are going to put on the floor will fail,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters on Dec. 9.
Republicans have proposed an alternative plan. It would replace the enhanced subsidies with a cash payment to eligible enrollees, to be placed in a Health Savings Account. The original Obamacare subsidies, distinct from the enhanced subsides, would remain in place.
Schumer on Dec. 9 criticized the proposal as “dead on arrival.”
Enhanced Subsidies
The enhanced subsidies enacted in 2021 expanded eligibility for Obamacare, offering subsidies for wage earners well into the middle class.
The original Obamacare subsidies are open to people making between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. That equates to a household income of between $32,150 and $128,600 for a family of four.
The enhanced subsidies increased the amount of the subsidies, removed the income limit, and capped out-of-pocket premium payments at 8.5 percent of household income. Some low-income enrollees are eligible for plans with no premium payment under the coverage expansion.
Obamacare enrollment more than doubled after the enhanced subsidies were introduced.
By Lawrence Wilson and Nathan Worcester
