Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) on Monday proposed legislation that would extend and reform the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
“Barack Obama and the Democratic Party created this disaster, lining the pockets of massive insurance companies while healthcare costs for everyday Americans skyrocketed,” Moreno said in a written statement. “But I refuse to let the American people pay the price for the Democrats’ incompetence. I am willing to work with anyone to finally bring down costs for all Americans and hope my colleagues across the aisle will commit to doing the same.”
The Senate Republicans proposed the Consumer Affordability and Responsibility Enhancement (CARE) Act that would extend the enhanced premium tax credit, or enhanced Obamacare subsidies, for two years while providing vital reforms to the credits.
Democrats enhanced the advanced premium tax credit (APTC), a tax credit meant to help lower the cost of health insurance premiums, through the Biden-era, $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus plan known as the American Rescue Plan. The Biden administration continued these credits through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
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The CARE Act gives Americans a two-year “glidepath” off of the coronavirus-era benefit and phases out subsidies for Americans making over $200,000.
A one-pager for Moreno’s office argued that the premium tax credits should be means-tested because “wealthy Americans don’t need Uncle Sam’s help buying insurance.”
The legislation would also end $0 premiums, requiring a minimum $25 monthly payment plan to ensure “everyone has skin in the game” and to also “shut down the fraud and abuse” that zero-premium plans invite.
Collins said in a statement:
Families in Maine and across the country are struggling with the high cost of health care, and we need to pursue practical solutions that increase affordability without creating sudden disruptions in coverage. This bill would help prevent unaffordable increases in health insurance premium costs for many families by extending the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits for two years and putting a reasonable income cap on these subsidies to ensure they are going to the individuals who need them.
The legislation from Moreno and Collins was introduced as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that rampant fraud and abuse came with the Obamacare subsidies.
The GAO report found:
- 58,000 Social Security numbers that received the APTC matched Social Security Administration death data
- 7,000 people who had Social Security were dead before coverage began, meaning the applications used Social Security numbers of dead people
- $94 million in APTC was sent to health insurers on behalf of deceased people
“For years, we were told we could keep our plan, keep our doctor, and premiums would go down. None of it happened. This new report confirms what we already knew: under Obamacare, hardworking Americans saw their premiums skyrocket and their healthcare choices shrink, all while fraud benefited insurance companies. Obamacare was built on lies and broken promises that hurt families and drove up costs,” Jordan said in a statement to Breitbart News.
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