GOP leaders in the U.S. House say a package of health care bills will come up for a vote next week, but it’s still unclear if there’ll be a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits up to 135,000 Iowans used this year to buy health insurance.
Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull is on the House panel that’s been weighing alternative. “When you have tax credits and when they go directly to the insurance companies, it dramatically increases premiums,” Feenstra said. “We see this time and time again.”
Feenstra favors putting any insurance premium subsidies from the federal government into Health Savings Accounts. “We have to make sure that money is funneled directly to the family and directly to the small businesses. That’s how you lower premiums, but it’s also bigger than that,” Feenstra said. “It’s also tackling the pharmaceutical industry…transparency, creating more opportunity for Health Savings Accounts. These all go together.”
Nearly a dozen House Republicans, including Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn of Ankeny, have proposed extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits for two years. House Republicans met privately today to discuss whether to allow a vote in the House on that proposal. Democrats in the House favor extending the tax credits for three years. In the U.S. Senate yesterday, Democrats proposed a three year extension, while Republicans proposed federal funding for health savings accounts for Americans earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level. Neither proposal cleared the Senate’s 60 vote threshold for consideration.