Meetings on a host of legislation, including this, set for next week.
Majority members of Congress are saying a first order of business is shoring up and expanding ObamaCare, rather than the more ambitious proposals that were present during the campaign of “Medicare for all.”
Certain expansions to the ObamaCare program were included in the recently passed American Rescue Plan that congressional members want to see made permanent, further expanding ObamaCare exchanges and Medicaid, and lowering prices for prescription drugs. The American Rescue Plan expanded premium tax credits, also called subsidies, for people purchasing coverage on the ObamaCare exchange for two years.
Majority members are set to hold meetings next week to examine a number of bills, including ones that would establish a reinsurance fund for health insurers on the ObamaCare exchange and would allow the federal government to fund at 100 percent for three years the Medicaid expansion for any state that has not yet expanded the low-income health insurance program.
Representative Ro Khanna of California, a member of the House Progressive Caucus, said the expansions in the American Rescue Plan were not enough. “Obviously, it’s an improvement, but I think that it is inadequate given the healthcare crisis that we’re in,” Khanna said. “Fifteen million people just lost private health insurance. This would be the time for the government to say, at the very least, for those 15 million, that we ought to put them on Medicare,” indicating a still-strong commitment to “Medicare for all.”
President Biden during the campaign said he opposes “Medicare for all.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For members of Congress to have discernment as they seek to shore up ObamaCare.
- For Americans who have lost health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic.
- For wisdom for government officials as they move the nation toward increasingly socialized medicine.
Sources: Washington Examiner, Los Angeles Times
