Sen. Bill Cassidy urged Congress to pass legislation to address expiring ACA premium subsidies, saying he "doesn’t care who gets the credit" as long as a solution is reached. A Republican plan to shift enhanced credits into HSAs and a Democratic three-year extension both failed in the Senate. The CBO warns that letting the subsidies expire would raise premiums and increase the uninsured by millions. Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate HELP Committee, expressed optimism for a bipartisan deal before year-end.
Cassidy Pushes Bipartisan Fix For Expiring ACA Subsidies: 'I Don’t Care Who Gets The Credit'
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) urged Congress to act quickly on expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies, emphasizing that lawmakers should prioritize policy over political credit.
Lawmakers Face Deadline On Enhanced Credits
On NewsNation’s "The Hill Sunday," Cassidy told host Chris Stirewalt:
"Good policy is good politics. Let’s not have a Republican plan or a Democratic plan, let’s have an American plan. If we address it, I don’t care who gets the credit."
Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and a practicing physician, co-sponsored a Republican bill that would redirect funds from the enhanced ACA tax credits into health savings accounts (HSAs) paired with bronze or catastrophic marketplace plans. That measure failed in the Senate earlier this week, as did a Democratic proposal to extend the enhanced credits for three years.
What’s At Stake
The enhanced subsidies were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and were extended by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They are set to expire at the end of this month. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says letting the credits lapse would raise average premiums by an estimated 4.3% in 2026, 7.7% in 2027 and about 7.9% annually from 2025–2034, and could increase the number of uninsured people by an average of 3.8 million between 2026 and 2034.
Cassidy reiterated his support for the HSA-related approach on Sunday but said he remains open to an "accommodation" or compromise to preserve affordability for enrollees. "Maybe we can still strike a deal. That’s what I’m pushing for, that’s what I’m hoping for [and] I think we can," he said, expressing optimism that bipartisan agreement can be reached before year-end.
Focus On Affordability
As a physician and Senate HELP chair, Cassidy framed the debate around patient affordability, saying lawmakers should address both rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs:
"Let’s just take care of the affordability issue for the enrollee in [the ACA], and do it for the out-of-pocket as well as the premium."
The coming weeks will determine whether Congress passes a bipartisan accommodation, adopts a partisan solution, or allows the enhanced credits to expire — a choice that would have measurable effects on premiums and coverage rates, according to the CBO.
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