Millions Face Exhorbitant Health Premiums; GOP Has ‘No Plan’

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Personally, if I were a Republican senator who saw last night’s election results in Tennessee, I’d be a little worried about kicking several million people off their healthcare plans. I mean, it looks kind of like a suicide mission. Via the Associated Press:

Hopes for an extension of health care subsidies were diminishing in Congress this week as Republicans and Democrats largely abandoned the idea of bipartisan talks on the issue, increasing the odds that millions of Americans could see sharp premium spikes starting Jan. 1.

Democrats who agreed earlier this month to reopen the government in exchange for a December health care vote were hoping they could work with Republicans to extend the COVID-era Affordable Care Act tax credits that help many Americans pay for their health coverage. But lawmakers in both parties have spent most of the time since talking amongst themselves instead, while rehashing longstanding partisan arguments over the law in public.

“I don’t think at this point we have a clear path forward, I don’t think the Democrats have a clear path forward,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday after Republicans met and discussed different proposals to overhaul the law.

The impasse means the Senate vote, expected next week, could be a party-line messaging exercise with no real chance of passage. Under the deal struck to end the shutdown, Democrats can determine the legislation that comes up for a vote. But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated they are leaning toward a vote on a straight extension of the subsidies with no new limits or tweaks to the law, which Republicans have already rejected.

“So far the Republicans are in total disarray and have no plan,” Schumer said Tuesday. “We have a plan.”

Democrats say they are willing to negotiate on the issue, and some have said they would be open to new limits on the subsidies. But they argue that two main issues are holding up talks: the lack of input from President Donald Trump, and Republicans’ insistence that abortion funding be part of the discussion.