ICYMI: Senate rejects ACA funding and a Republican alternative with premiums set to spike
DES MOINES, IA – Yesterday, Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley joined their Republican colleagues in voting against a bill that would have extended Affordable Care Act premiums for millions of Americans.
On January 1, more than 117,000 Iowans are at risk of losing their coverage and families will see their health care premiums increase by an average of 114 percent if Republicans don’t get their act together.
Here’s what’s been in the news since Grassley and Ernst cast their votes:
Iowa News Now: Senate rejects extension of ACA tax credits, with millions to likely face rising costs
The Senate on Thursday voted against both Democratic and Republican health care proposals to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for at least 22 million Americans, marking what appears to be the end to an effort to stop the subsidies from expiring on January 1.
Iowa Public Radio: Competing health care plans fail in the Senate as ACA premium hikes loom
Subsidies for the Affordable Care Act appear set to expire for millions of Americans at the end of the year after competing health care related bills failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday.
WHO13: Republicans block bill to extend expiring health insurance subsidies
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a motion to advance a Democrat-drafted bill to extend enhanced health insurance premium subsidies that are due to expire at the end of 2025, tax credits that Democrats say are needed to keep premiums from rising by double digits next year.
Des Moines Register: US Senate rejects dueling health care bills. How Iowa senators voted:
Iowa’s U.S. senators joined most of their Republican colleagues in rejecting a bill to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies while backing a dueling health care proposal that also failed to advance — leaving little time to stop health care premiums from spiking next year for millions of Obamacare enrollees.
The Gazette: Grassley, Ernst Back GOP HSA plan as ACA subsidy extension fails in Senate
The Senate on Thursday also rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.
KCRG: Nurses’ union members, county supervisors rally for ACA subsidy extension
Katie Daugherty, a nurse at the UIHC downtown campus, called on Rep. Miller-Meeks to act. Daugherty said Iowans will lose access to critical services. “Someone who is taught to ‘do no harm’ in medical school is explicitly harming Iowans and the healthcare systems that care for them,” said Daugherty. “By voting to cut Medicaid, she is putting even more of a strain on our already fragile system.”
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