The majority-Democrat House approved a measure to strengthen Obamacare on Monday in a 234-179 vote, a move by the party to signal its healthcare priorities ahead of the presidential election.
The bill, the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act, would expand tax credits for families buying plans on the Obamacare exchanges and cap the cost of premiums for plans on Obamacare exchanges at 8.5% of a family’s income. It would also pressure states to expand Medicaid programs by promising more federal funding and cut funding to states that refuse to expand Medicaid.
The bill would also let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, a key feature of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 2019 bill, which would enable the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicare, to negotiate the prices of up to 250 prescription drugs, including insulin.
The campaign season bill has no chance of passing through the Republican-controlled Senate, but it’s a firm rebuke of President Trump’s latest effort to get rid of Obamacare. The bill’s passage comes as record unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic has stripped millions of their employer-sponsored healthcare, leaving them financially liable for costs of care and treating preexisting conditions.
GOP members, on the other hand, called the bill a political stunt that would cut off federal funding to states that have not expanded Medicaid, mostly Republican-led, during a pandemic. They also argued that forcing pharmaceutical companies to negotiate with the government would stifle innovation and research initiatives.
Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican and the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the bill is “vindictive, and it’s probably unconstitutional.”
Just three days ago, Trump’s Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to invalidate Obamacare, renewing the argument that once the court struck down the law’s individual mandate, the rest of the law became null and void.
The Supreme Court agreed in March to take up the case about whether the law is unconstitutional. The court has not announced when the case will be argued, which could be as soon as October, ahead of the general election. Overturning Obamacare would force states to decide whether to continue providing care through Medicaid to low-income earners, how to deliver care, how to protect those with preexisting conditions, and how to engineer a tax plan to pay for these changes.
