Speaker Johnson unveils health care plan as divided Republicans scramble for alternative

WASHINGTON AP The Senate failed to get anywhere on the robustness care issue this week Now it s the House s turn to show what it can do Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican alternative late Friday a last-minute sprint as his party refuses to extend the enhanced tax subsidies for those who buy policies through the Affordable Care Act also called Obamacare which are expiring at the end of the year Those subsidies help lower the cost of coverage Johnson R-La huddled behind closed doors in the morning as he did days earlier this week working to assemble the package for consideration as the House focuses the final days of its work on physical condition care House Republicans are tackling the real drivers of wellness care costs to provide affordable care Johnson declared in a comment announcing the package He explained it would be voted on next week Time is running out for Congress to act Democrats engineered the longest federal authorities shutdown ever this fall in a failed effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table on healthcare care But after promising votes the Senate failed this week to advance both a Republican robustness care plan and the Democratic-offered bill to extend the tax credits for three years Now with just days to go Congress is about to wrap up its work with no consensus approach in sight What Republicans are proposing The House Republicans offered a -plus page package that focuses on long-sought GOP proposals to enhance access to employer-sponsored wellness insurance plans and clamp down on so-called pharmacy benefit managers Republicans propose expanding access to what s referred to as association physical condition plans which would allow more small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together and purchase fitness coverage Proponents say such plans increase the leverage businesses have to negotiate a lower rate But critics say the plans provide skimpier coverage than what is required under the Affordable Care Act The Republicans proposal would also require more content from pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs as a way to help control drug costs Critics say PBMs have padded their bottom line and made it more laborious for independent pharmacists to survive Additionally the GOP plan includes mention of cost-sharing reductions for particular lower-income people who rely on Obamacare but those do not take effect until January The emerging package from the House Republicans does not include an extension of an enhanced tax credit for millions of Americans who get insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act Put in place during the COVID- problem that enhanced subsidy expires Dec leaving bulk families in the activity facing more than double their current out-of-pocket premiums and in chosen cases much more What Trump wants President Donald Trump has noted he believes Republicans are going to figure out a better plan than Obamacare something he has promised for years but offered minimal details beyond his idea for providing Americans with stipends to help buy insurance I want to see the billions of dollars go to people not to the insurance companies Trump reported late Friday during an event at the White House And I want to see the people go out and buy themselves great healthcare The president did not comment directly on the House s new plan He has repeatedly touted his idea of sending money directly to Americans to help offset the costs of healthcare care policies rather than extending the tax credits for those buying policies through Obamacare It s unclear how much money Trump envisions The Senate GOP proposal that failed to advance would have provided payments to new wellbeing savings accounts of a year for adult enrollees or for those ages to It appeared there were no such fitness savings accounts in the new House GOP plan Political pressure is building for a great number of Going Johnson s track has left vulnerable House Republicans representing key battleground districts in a tough spot Frustrated with the delays a group of more centrist GOP lawmakers is aligning with Democrats to push their own proposals for continuing the tax credits for now so that Americans don t face rising robustness care costs They are pursuing several paths for passing a temporary ACA subsidy extension co-sponsoring a handful of bills They are also signing onto so-called discharge petitions that could force a floor vote if a majority of the House signs on Such petitions are designed to get around the majority s control and are rarely productive but this year has proven to be an exception Lawmakers for example were able to use a discharge petition to force a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files held by the Department of Justice One petition filed by Rep Brian Fitzpatrick R-Pa had signatures from Republicans and Democrats as of Friday afternoon It would force a vote on a bill that includes a two-year subsidy extension and contains provisions designed to combat fraud in the ACA marketplace There are also restrictions for PBMs among other things Another petition from Rep Josh Gottheimer D-N J has signatures and is broadly bipartisan It s a simpler proposal that would force a vote on a one-year ACA enhanced subsidy extension and would include new income caps limiting who qualifies for the enhanced credit Both discharge petitions have enough Republicans promotion that they would likely succeed if Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged his caucus to jump on board So far he s not tipping his hand We re actively reviewing those two discharge petitions and we ll have more to say about it early next week Jeffries announced Meanwhile Jeffries is pushing Democrats own discharge petition which has signatures and would provide for a clean three-year subsidy extension No Republicans have signed onto that one And as Republicans made clear in the Senate this week a three-year extension without changes to the effort has no chance of passing their chamber