Senate votes down two plans to address expiring ACA tax credits

Congress is no closer to resolving the issue of expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits as the Senate failed to advance competing proposals to address the issue today.

The Senate failed to advance a Republican-led proposal to set up health savings accounts for those who buy health coverage in the ACA marketplace.

The legislation, which needed 60 votes to advance, failed by a vote of 51 to 48.

Every Democrat voted against it. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote “no.”

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, doesn’t extend the subsidies but would redirect that money into health savings accounts paired with bronze or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges.

Under the proposal, certain ACA enrollees earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level would receive $1,000 in an HSA if they’re 18 to 49 years old, and $1,500 if they’re 50 to 64. It would also expand the availability of catastrophic plans available on the federal marketplace.

Enhanced tax credits that enabled more people to buy coverage in the ACA marketplace were part of the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act of 2021. However, those enhanced tax credits are due to expire Dec. 31, unless Congress acts to extend them. The end of enhanced tax credits means that millions of Americans who use them to obtain coverage will see their health care premiums more than double on average.

After the failed vote on the Cassidy-Crapo bill, the Senate blocked a motion to advance a Democratic proposal to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies for three years. The legislationfailed by a vote of 51 to 48.

Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described the bill as a “clean” three-year extension of the enhanced ACA credits that first passed as part of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, and capping premiums for an average marketplace plan to 8.5% of income.

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) backed the Democratic proposal.

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