Topline<\/p>\n
The Senate on Thursday rejected a GOP-backed plan to replace expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits with direct payments to health savings accounts for some enrollees amid criticism from Democrats and some experts the proposal would be unlikely to offset the rising premiums.<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (C), joined by Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) (L) and U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), speaks to reporters following a Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
The Senate voted 51-48 against the measure, with all Democrats and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., rejecting the proposal.<\/p>\n
The proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, would have given individuals enrolled in \u201cbronze\u201d or \u201ccatastrophic\u201d plans earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level $1,000 in their HSAs if they are 18 to 49 years old and $1,500 if they are 50 to 64.<\/p>\n
The proposal aligned with President Donald Trump\u2019s push to make direct payments to individuals rather than insurance companies\u2014Trump said he supports the HSA idea generally on Tuesday, telling reporters, \u201cI like the concept. I don\u2019t want to give insurance companies any money. They\u2019ve been ripping off the public for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan would have essentially reversed the existing funding model: enrollees currently have subsidies paid directly to their insurers to cover premiums while being responsible for deductibles, while the proposal would have granted HSA funding for deductible payments\u2014though those could not be used to pay premiums.<\/p>\n
Critics argue this is a net loss for enrollees, as most would receive less support under the HSA proposal than the existing ACA tax credits, since it would only apply to high-deductible plans (the average deductible for individuals with a bronze plan was $7,200 this year, according to<\/a> the Kaiser Family Foundation nonprofit).<\/p>\n The proposal would have also expanded eligibility for the catastrophic plans to everyone, likely leading insurers to raise premiums for people with more health issues who are concentrated in the more comprehensive plans, the left-leaning Center for American Progress notes<\/a>. <\/p>\n The plan also didn\u2019t apply to children and \u201cthere\u2019s no adjustment of income, meaning this proposal wildly favors weather\u2014and healthier\u2014enrollees,\u201d Sabrina Corlette, a Georgetown professor who specializes in health care policy, told NBC News.<\/a> <\/p>\n Tangent<\/p>\n The Senate also rejected a bill backed by Democrats on Thursday that would have extended ACA premium tax credits for three years, increasing the likelihood the credits will lapse and premiums will spike. Trump has consistently said he wants a health care plan that sends money directly to people\u2014not insurance companies\u2014suggesting Americans could refer to the new plan as \u201cTrumpcare.\u201d<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline The Senate on Thursday rejected a GOP-backed plan to replace expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[2139,12,97,252,79896,253],"class_list":["post-344436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-affordable-care-act","tag-donald-trump","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-savings-account","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}