House Democrats are proposing a permanent extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits to middle-income earners that would mark the largest expansion of the healthcare law’s benefits since its passage in 2010.
Under the House Ways and Means Committee’s portion of a $3.5 trillion domestic policy bill Democrats are advancing, people with incomes at or above 400% of the federal poverty level—about $52,000 for an individual—would be eligible for subsidies to buy insurance on the ACA marketplaces. The bill would also make ACA subsidies more generous for people making between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level.
The Ways and Means Committee proposal would also authorize $10 billion a year for state reinsurance programs to reduce premiums and other out-of-pocket costs and to close the Medicaid expansion gap, similar to a bill released last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The bills are expected to be part of the $3.5 trillion domestic policy package congressional Democrats hope to pass by the end of the year. Because Democrats are using a legislative procedure called budget reconciliation to move the package, Senate Republicans can’t filibuster the bill and the Senate’s Democratic majority can pass it with a simple majority.