Congress set to address ACA premium increases

Congress will revisit a decision against extending a tax credit that has saved some Virginians thousands of dollars a year for their health insurance, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, said Friday.

The credit at issue was left out of the tax and budget bill President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4. Wittman was on a swing through the district to say the tax cuts in the bill will boost the economy and ease the cost of living concerns preoccupying Virginians.

Expiration of the credit at the end of the year means premiums for Aff ordable Care Act individual and family coverage in Virginia are likely to rise 20.5% next year, health insurers' rate requests filed with the State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance show.

"I think we'll have something on premium tax credits by the end of the year," Wittman told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, after the event.

"We've got to get a CR first," Wittman said, referring to a continuing resolution, a bill intended to keep the government running after the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

"There's some talk about doing the premium tax credit in a CR, but it may be better to do a clean CR," he said.

Wittman said he's still studying the issue and has not made up his mind yet where he stands.

The rise in premiums for Obamacare means it's likely that more than a third of the nearly 415,000 Virginians now covered by individual Aff ordable Care Act policies will go without next year, a Bureau of Insurance analysis found.

If the state were to step in to off set the increases, it would cost roughly $250 million, the Bureau has calculated.

The expiration of the credit at the end of the year also aff ects small group policies, the type off ered by small employers.

These are set to rise by an average of 11.2%.

Wittman's event, also hosted by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the House Republican Conference and sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, featured a giveaway of gasoline at a convenience store in Henrico County's Innsbrook business park.

"You know this really is about how do we fundamentally do things that are important to working families," Wittman said.

"What's important to working families are their everyday cars when they have to stop at the gas pump … As I've talked to working families across the district, at the top of their list are energy prices," he said.

He said the United States needs to produce more energy and said Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" will speed the development of new sources.

Wittman said he'd like to see new exploration to evaluate oil and gas potential off the Virginia coast, noting that the last geological surveys are 50 years old.

"It's an environmentally sensitive area and I'm not saying we should drill, but we should know what's there and whether it can be developed sustainably," he said.

Wittman said he's been having conversations with the White House to make sure Dominion Energy's off shore wind farm stays on track.

Earlier this month, the Trump Administration revoked a $39.3 million grant that had been awarded to Norfolk to convert a marine terminal into a support facility for the off shore wind project.

Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor, the most prominent of the nine Democrats who have announced for the 1st District seat, said the Trump tax and budget bill Wittman supported would force up the cost of health care and deny coverage to thousands of Virginians.

"It's incredibly telling that Rob Wittman would choose to celebrate his harmful budget bill just days after Augusta Health announced they are forced to shutter three health clinics in Virginia as a direct result of his vote," Taylor said in a statement.

Augusta Health last week said it was closing clinics in the small Shenandoah Valley communities of Churchville, Weyers Cave and Buena Vista because of health care cuts in the tax and budget bill.

Dave Ress (804) 649-6948 dress@timesdispatch.com