Why Republicans in Congress Hate Trump’s Health Care Plan

Reuters reported Monday that a slew of states are lagging in ACA plan enrollment compared to a year ago. “People are making really tough choices to figure out how they can stay covered or making the tough choice to drop,” Ingrid Ulrey, chief executive officer for Washington Health Benefit Exchange, told the outlet. She said 7,000 people in her state have dropped coverage since open enrollment began.

Time is running out to avert a disaster. Congress is leaving town for Thanksgiving, and when it returns it will be in session for only three weeks. As part of the deal to reopen the government during the shutdown, Republicans promised Democrats a vote on a clean extension of the Obamacare subsidies—but even if they keep their promise, the vote is certain to fail, based on the reaction this week to Trump’s draft plan.

There were a few caveats to his proposed extension, of course. One was a new income limit: Anyone making more than 700 percent of the federal poverty line would no longer be eligible for the subsidies. Under the enhanced subsidies, which were enacted in 2021, anyone who paid more than 8.5 percent of their income toward premium costs would qualify for a subsidy for the rest. In practice very few, if any, high earners hit that barrier, but Trump’s proposed cap could hit families right on the threshold.