Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced legislation that would give Americans an alternative to Obamacare.
- The bill would coexist with — rather than replace — the Affordable Care Act and modify components of the current system.
- House GOP leaders have continually vowed to replace the ACA if they put a Republican in the White House this fall.
Dive Insight:
Under the plan, every adult in the U.S. would receive a $2,500 tax credit to buy health coverage. Families would get an additional $1,500 for each dependent.
The new benefit would replace the tax breaks currently tied to employer health coverage and could be assigned to an employer, transferred to a Roth health savings account or advanced for annual distribution.
“This plan offers a unique, free-marketplace alternative that unleashes doctors, patients, and all individuals from the constraints of Obamacare, and gives them the opportunity to be in charge of their own healthcare,” Sessions said in a press release.
Republicans have long sought to revamp the healthcare system through modifications in the tax code, the Los Angeles Times noted.
Currently, health benefits aren’t subject to income taxes, meaning higher-paid employees with comprehensive health plans often reap much higher tax benefits than lower-paid workers without insurance. The proposed tax credit would level the playing field by extending to people who don’t have work-based coverage.
The measure comes at a time when a task force under the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is gearing up to unveil an ACA replacement plan. As The Hill reported, the GOP plans are not meant to compete with one another.
For those of you keeping score at home like Huffington Post's Jeffrey Young, such plans has long been in the works.