Senate GOP Healthcare Plan Decried as ‘Utter Joke’ That Would Devastate Sick Americans

One campaigner said Republicans want to force people “onto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt.”

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

The Republican healthcare proposal that’s set for a vote in the US Senate on Thursday would not prevent insurance premiums from skyrocketing for tens of millions of Americans and would likely harm sicker people by promoting high-deductible plans.

The GOP bill, led by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would allow enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits to expire, replacing them in 2026 and 2027 with an annual payment of up to $1,500 in tax-advantaged health savings accounts to help cover out-of-pocket costs.

The catch is that only Americans enrolled in high-deductible bronze or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges would be eligible for the funding, which could not be used on monthly premiums. In 2026, the average individual deductible for bronze plans is $7,476, and the average for catastrophic plans is $10,600.

Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, said Tuesday that “premium payments would still more than double next year” under the GOP plan, which does not have enough support to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster.

“Healthy people could be better off in a high deductible plan with a health savings account,” Levitt noted. “People who are sick would face big premium increases or a deductible they can’t afford.”

Brad Woodhouse, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, called Senate Republicans’ legislation “an utter joke that would set healthcare progress back by decades and leave Americans high and dry without the care and coverage they deserve.”

“Republicans are proving once again how unserious they are,” said Woodhouse. “Instead of protecting hard-working families, Sens. Cassidy and Crapo want to force them off the insurance plans they like and onto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt. That’s not what American families want, and it’s certainly not what they deserve.”

Asked earlier this week if he supports the Crapo-Cassidy bill, President Donald Trump responded, “I like the concept.”

The Senate GOP plan was introduced as a counter to Democrats’ push for a clean three-year extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies. Republicans, who passed legislation over the summer that enacted the largest-ever cuts to Medicaid, are expected to vote down the Democratic plan on Thursday.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that if the ACA tax credits lapse at the end of the year, “a couple making $44,000 (208% of the poverty level) will see their monthly marketplace premium rise from $85 to $253—an annual increase of $2,013.”

With the Senate vote looming, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) is “still trying to figure out” his healthcare proposal, Politico reported Tuesday.

“The goal is for GOP lawmakers to have ‘something’ to vote on before the end of next week, according to one of the senior House Republicans involved in the talks,” the outlet added, “even if there is no time left for the Senate to pass it before the subsidies lapse.”

Jake Johnson