Democrat Senator explains how Trump holds the key to solving America's healthcare problem
The new year brought some bad news for Americans, as they won't get subsidies under the Affordable Care Act anymore. Congress had time until the end of last year to figure out a plan to extend subsidies, but Democrats and Republicans failed to come to an agreement. President Donald Trump has withheld his support for any healthcare plan, but one Democrat believes that he can ease the woes of thousands of Americans, who will have to pay higher healthcare premiums.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt, said that he was a part of a bipartisan group of Senators who spoke about the matter. It turns out that there are Republicans and Democrats who believe that the halting of ACA subsidies will be disastrous for citizens. This group got on a call on Tuesday, as per an NPR report, and charted out a potential compromise. The plan would see the subsidies extended for a couple of years with reforms.
"There's a number of Republican and Democratic senators who are seeing what a disaster this will be for families that they represent. That's the common ground here, and it's a doable thing,” Welch said. He then spoke about how some of the reforms would look if the subsidies were to be extended. A lot of people spoke about introducing an income cap.
"We could extend the credits for a couple of years, we could reform it," Welch explained, before adding, "You could put an income cap, you could have a copay, you could have penalties on insurers who commit fraud. You actually could introduce some cost-saving reductions that have bipartisan support." However, the plan would require the support of Trump, who has not been vocal about supporting any particular healthcare plan so far in his second term.
"It would require that President Trump play a major role in this, because he has such influence over the Republican majority in the House and even in the Senate," the Democrat Senator explained. Low and middle-income households will be hit the hardest with rising healthcare premiums. Welch told the story of a farmer who was staring at paying more than $2,000 than before, thanks to the halting of the ACA subsidies.
"A farmer in Vermont, their premium is going to go from $900 a month to $3,200, a month. So they're going to really face sticker shock. There's going to be a secondary impact, because the hospitals, particularly in rural areas, are going to lose revenue." Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said that he could see some of his Republican colleagues get behind a plan to extend subsidies if certain conditions were met.
"I don't like the clean extension without any income cap, but given the choice between a clean three-year extension and letting them expire, that's not a hard choice for me. And I suspect many of my other colleagues are going to view it the same way,” he mentioned.
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