Here are four things to know on the matter.
1. Conservative congressional leaders are concerned that preserving the premium tax credits that help people afford health insurance provided under the ACA will cost the government too much. They are also worried some people might abuse the government assistance, according to The Hill.
2. They have also raised objections against a proposal to tax some employer-sponsored health insurance plans, calling it an iteration of the ACA’s Cadillac Tax, which would have imposed a 40 percent excise tax on expensive employer-sponsored health plans.
3. The debate on these two issues has resurfaced as Republican lawmakers try to come up with ways to ensure the nation’s poor can afford health insurance once the ACA is gone. While some say taxing certain employer-sponsored health insurance plans would provide the revenue to pay for the premium tax credits, some conservative lawmakers have said they prefer a tax deduction for health plans instead of a refundable tax credit, according to the report.
“I think that hard-line conservatives will come out, I would say, near unanimously against the idea of a refundable tax credit,” said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a member of the Freedom Caucus, according to the report.
4. The other issue holding up a GOP replacement plan is what to do with Medicaid. Repealing the ACA would halt federal funding to the 31 states — some led by Republican governors — that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, according to The Hill. While some Republican lawmakers want to create a transition period to continue federal funding to states that expanded the program, many of those in states that did not expand the program say such a transition will be too costly.
“You don’t want to punish or penalize the states that didn’t expand [Medicaid], but the states that did expand are going to say, ‘We don’t want to get punished for expanding, either.’ To me, that’s probably the thorniest and most difficult issue to resolve,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., according to the report.
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