The U.S. Capitol. Credit: Christian Hinkle/Shutterstock
Members of the House Rules Committee — a powerful House panel that determines how and when legislation comes up on the House floor — are meeting now in Washington to prepare a package of House health care bills for floor action.
Two of the bills under consideration relate to Medicaid and children's health care. The third, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Act bill, includes provisions that could help small employers join together to buy health coverage through association health plans; create a new statutory framework for individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements; and impose tough new reporting requirements on pharmacy benefit managers that help administer prescription benefits for employer-sponsored health plans.
The health benefits bill does not include provisions that would extend the current high level of premium subsidies available to people who buy individual or family coverage through the Affordable Care Act public exchange system. The subsidy boost, which was adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to expire Dec. 31. The expiration could cause premiums for some families to increase to more than $50,000 per year, from less than $10,000 per year today.
House leaders hope to bring the health package up for a vote on the House floor Wednesday, according to press reports.
The House Rules Committee was set to start the meeting at 2 p.m. Eastern time today. The committee streams video of its meetings live on its website and posts video recordings of the meetings on its website.
Health bill amendments: Teams of House Republicans have introduced two ACA subsidy boost extension amendments. Both teams include Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va.
One amendment would maintain a high level of subsidies for two years and put some subsidy cash into exchange plan users' health savings accounts.
Another amendment would maintain a high level of subsidies for one year and add requirements for PBMs that serve Medicare and Medicaid plans.
Lawmakers have also introduced other amendments, including one that would expand the association health plan section in the underlying bill, one that would create a federal inspector general for PBMs and one that would create a new tax deduction for exchange plan premiums.
The office of the PBM inspector general would be part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The AHP amendment would let any group use an AHP to buy health coverage.
Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said providing a tax deduction would be a good, quick way to provide relief for exchange plan users because congressional budget deficit control rules would not require an offset or a deduction.
The history: The Senate voted last week to keep a Democratic ACA subsidy-boost extender bill and a Republican alternative, which would have replaced the subsidy boost with cash payments into low-income exchange plan users' health savings accounts, from coming up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Kiggans and Fitzpatrick have introduced bipartisan alternative bills of their own and have been trying to use a petition process to push their bills onto the House floor, in spite of resistance from House Republican leaders.
Update: Committee members voted 6-4 to send the health package to the House floor without the proposed amendments. The Republicans trying to keep ACA premium subsidies at a high level said they were continuing to try to use a petition process to get subsidy boost extension legislation onto the floor.
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