The third-highest ranking senator is crafting a new healthcare proposal that would cap tax credits to give lower-income people more assistance.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is putting together a proposal that would means test the tax credits in the American Health Care Act, which would give tax credits to people seeking coverage on the individual insurance market.
Thune’s comments to Axios on Tuesday come as Republicans are on the defensive after an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office predicted the law would create 24 million uninsured people over the next decade.
Thune said his proposal would cap federal assistance at a lower income level than it currently is.
The credits proposed in the Republican healthcare plan would be given out depending on age, with older people getting more money. That is different than the means-tested credits in Obamacare, which gives them out based on income.
Thune’s proposal would begin phasing out the tax credit at 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or individuals making $48,240 a year.
It would be fully phased out for someone making $74,907 a year. That is different than the current GOP plan, which starts phasing out the credits at $75,000 and ends the phaseout at $115,000 a year.
For people making less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level, they would receive a tax credit based both on age and on income. That differs from the AHCA, which doesn’t factor income at all.
Thune’s proposal comes as the Republican legislation is getting significant pushback from House and Senate conservatives who are pushing a competing plan from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that offers tax deductions instead of tax credits.
Thune wants his proposal to be in the version the House considers soon. The House Budget Committee will consider the American Health Care Act on Wednesday, and then it will move to the House Rules Committee before reaching the House floor.
