GOP health panel leaders in the Senate on Wednesday seemed intent on quickly implementing a health savings account proposal to replace expiring health care tax credits that subsidize insurance plans used by millions of Americans, despite increased skepticism from Democrats and even some House Republicans.
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on health care affordability, lawmakers largely stuck to party-line questioning over skyrocketing costs for Affordable Care Act health plans, suggesting no easy compromise is imminent.
The ACA’s enhanced subsidies, relied on by roughly one-third of enrollees to lower premiums, expire Dec. 31. Before that deadline, by mid-December, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill of Democrats’ choosing under a promise by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to party moderates in exchange for their votes to reopen the government earlier this month.
