Dueling Republican and Democratic bills to combat rising health care costs on the Affordable Care Act marketplace failed to move out of the Senate as Americans in Arizona and other states face drastic premium increases.
A Democratic proposal to extend Obamacare subsidies for three years before they expire at the end of the year failed to garner the 60 votes needed to move through the Senate. The COVID-era subsidies help tamp down premium costs for millions of Americans who purchase their insurance from Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
“Many people are seeing premiums skyrocket by hundreds to thousands of dollars, which makes this the largest single year price hike in U.S. history,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under former President Joe Biden.
A handful of Republicans joined all Democrats — including Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego — to support the extension.
“Today’s vote came down to a simple choice: protect working families from skyrocketing health care costs or let premiums double or even triple,” Kelly said in a statement. “Unfortunately, just as they have done for months, Republicans chose higher prices for Americans.”
Most Senate Republicans backed a separate measure sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would have replaced the subsidies with health savings accounts worth up to $1,500 annually for Americans earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level.
That measure also failed, with all Democrats and Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucly) voting against the bill.
In the U.S. House, Rep. Juan Ciscomani co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to extend the ACA subsidies for one year, making him one of the few Republicans to break with his party on the issue.
"This is a short-term way to address this emergency and there is longer term policy on the reform that we are going to work on later. But I’m committed to doing the work today," Ciscomani said.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to bring the measure up for a vote. Johnson said he is planning to release his own healthcare bill, though details on that legislation are scarce.
Without action, Brooks-LaSure said Americans will face an unprecedented increase in health care costs.
“It is looking to be worse than what we predicted. Early estimates are finding that premiums have increased by over 26%," Brooks-LaSure said.
The Arizona Department of Insurance said rates in the state could increase by between 2.5% and 55%.
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