GOP Lawmakers Won’t Preserve Health Subsidies If The High Court Strikes Them From Law
This signal from congressional Republicans ups the ante regarding the legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act that will be argued at the Supreme Court in March. Meanwhile, some GOP House members are also starting to work on a bill to replace the ACA.
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans To Block Legislative Fix To Health-Care Law
Congressional Republicans say they won’t move to preserve consumers’ health insurance tax credits if the Supreme Court strikes them down, raising the stakes in the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act. The high court is set to consider in March whether the wording of the 2010 health law means people can only get tax credits to lower their health premiums if they live in one of the handful of states running its own insurance exchange. A decision is expected by June. (Radnofsky, 1/29)
The Associated Press:
Republicans: House To Begin Work On Health Care Alternative
The House will vote next week to repeal the health care law Republicans have vowed to undo. They'll also direct work to start on a replacement bill the GOP promised more than four years ago. The House voted more than 50 times in the past two years to repeal the law in whole or in part. Next week's vote will be the first for such a bill in the new Congress. It will also be the first time the legislation will go to a Republican-controlled Senate. (1/29)
At the same time, Democrats vow to do better in explaining "their vision" while the medical device tax continues to draw attention.
The Associated Press:
House Democrats Vow To Explain Their Vision Better In 2016
[Rep. Steve] Israel's new role is to oversee messaging for House Democrats. He told reporters his colleagues will stick to the party's well-known priorities: a higher minimum wage, tax increases on the rich, and advancing the president's health care law and other measures largely associated with Obama. This time, they're counting on Obama's rising popularity — and fading headlines on Ebola and terrorist beheadings — to help persuade voters they'd be better off with a Democratic-run Congress. (Babington, 1/30)
Politico Pro:
Lobbying Push Puts Obscure Tax At Top Of Obamacare Repeal Agenda
A lot of things about Obamacare rile up Americans, but the medical device tax isn’t one of them. Yet this relatively obscure piece of the law’s financing has risen to the top of Republicans’ health care agenda and may have the best chance of any Obamacare repeal bill of actually getting through Congress this year. (Norman, 1/29)
