Sen. Bill Cassidy is working to build support for his alternative to the Affordable Care Act ahead of an expected Supreme Court ruling later this month on whether the law’s subsidies are valid in most states.
The court case challenges the legality of the federal subsidies offered in the form of tax credits to individuals in the 34 states that did not set up their own online health exchanges under the 2010 health care law. Those states, including Louisiana, instead rely on the federal government’s exchange at HealthCare.gov.
The Shreveport Times reports about 138,000 Louisiana residents receive federal help paying for health insurance purchased on the federal exchange. Cassidy’s bill is based on his assumption the court will invalidate the subsidies in the 34 states. The core provision in his bill gives those states the option of replacing the subsidies with tax credits for people who set up health savings accounts.
His measure would eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that almost all individuals obtain insurance, and that employers provide insurance for their workers. It also would allow people to switch insurance plans without penalties and would retain the Affordable Care Act’s ban on denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
“We think we have a very good piece of legislation that… gives states an option to do something different than Obamacare, but still takes care of those who need a safety net,” says Cassidy, who serves on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
But the bill, one of Cassidy’s first major pieces of legislation as a senator, has no Democratic support and faces competition from other GOP plans proposed by more senior members, including chairmen of key committees.
Cassidy’s bill has nine Republican co-sponsors, including Sen. David Vitter, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Supporters of the ACA say Cassidy’s bill is just one more in a long line of Republican attempts to undo the law.
