House Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and several other Republican members are pressing Congress to let COVID-era Obamacare subsidies expire, writing in a Newsweek opinion piece that keeping them would be a “colossal mistake.”
“These expanded ACA tax credits were always meant to be short-term adjustments. They both eliminated the income cap on subsidy eligibility and increased the amounts that the federal government paid toward premiums on the Obamacare exchanges,” wrote Harris, along with Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp.
Congress in 2021 passed the American Rescue Plan Act as part of pandemic relief. It made ACA subsidies more generous and available to people with higher incomes.
Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act extended the subsidies through 2025.
Democrats are threatening to shut down the government at the end of the month if Republicans don’t extend the enhancements.
Some Republicans who have opposed the healthcare law since it was enacted under then-President Barack Obama are suddenly open to keeping the tax credits. They acknowledge that many of their constituents could see steep hikes in coverage if the subsidies are allowed to lapse.
Still, the two sides are far apart. Republicans are divided, with many firmly opposed.
Expanding the subsidies “would be costly, inflationary, and counterproductive to true healthcare reform,” said the lawmakers.
“The fiscal reality is that renewing these expanded subsidies would cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. We’re already drowning in debt and inflation. Throwing more borrowed money at a broken system isn’t just bad policy and economics — it’s reckless,” they added.
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