Why Republicans in Congress Hate Trump’s Health Care Plan

Reuters reported As of Monday, a large number of states are lagging behind in ACA enrollment compared to a year ago. “People are making very difficult choices about how they can remain covered or making the difficult choice to drop out,” Ingrid Ulrey, executive director of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, told the news outlet. She said 7,000 people in her state have dropped their coverage since open enrollment began.

Time is running out to avoid a catastrophe. Congress leaves town for Thanksgiving, and when it returns it will only be in session for three weeks. As part of the deal to reopen the government during the shutdown, Republicans promised Democrats are expected to vote on a net expansion of Obamacare subsidies, but even if they keep their promise, the vote is certain to fail, based on this week’s reaction to Trump’s proposed plan.

There were some caveats about it proposed extensionOf course. One of them was a new income limit: Anyone earning more than 700 percent of the federal poverty level would no longer be eligible for subsidies. Under the enhanced subsidies, passed in 2021, anyone spending more than 8.5% of their income on premiums would be eligible for a subsidy for the remainder. In practice, very few, if any, high earners cross this barrier, but Trump’s proposed cap could hit families right on the threshold.