Rescue plan another big deal, going beyond ACA
The Affordable Care Act just celebrated its 11th anniversary and is on perhaps its strongest footing, increasingly popular with voters and desperately needed in a pandemic.
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the hallmark legislation of his presidency, the ACA, which has transformed health care in the United States. It has made health insurance accessible and affordable to millions of Americans who, until it became law, were uninsured. After introducing Obamaata signing ceremony, then-vice President Joe Biden, unaware the mic was hot, whispered, “This is a big (expletive) deal.” The same can be said for Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which he signed earlier this month and which, along with the ACA, is one of the most sweeping and consequential pieces of legislation in the past 25 years. Chatter around Biden’s plan has mostly focused on stimulus, unemployment relief and a profound overhaul of the child tax credit, but it also makes the ACA an even bigger deal by covering more people.
It does this, at least temporarily, by expanding eligibility for the premium tax credit to people who previously were ineligible because their incomes were too high. These are people who earned too much to qualify for the tax creidt but not enough to pay for full-price premiums.
At the same time, those consumers who were already receiving the subsidy will see an increase that will lower their premiums. Those earning between 100 to 150 percent of the federal poverty level won’t have to pay anything for their premiums.
In addition, people who have lost their jobs or had their hours reduced but want to stay on their employer’s health insurance through COBRA will have their premiums completely subsidized through the American Rescue Plan from April 1 through Sept. 30. Biden’s plan also increases funding for Medicaid expansion as an incentive to the dozen states, including Texas, that have yet to take advantage of a program that provides $9 of federal funding for every $1 spent by the state. Why Texas refuses to do this baffles us.
Allowing more people to access quality health insurance at lower costs isn’t just a big deal, it’s good policy.