House scheduled to vote today on GOP healthcare bill

House scheduled to vote today on GOP healthcare bill The bill touts lowering ACA premiums through an old route, cost-sharing reduction payments for insurers. Policy and Legislation By Susan Morse , Executive Editor | December 17, 2025 | 10:37 AM Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images The House is scheduled to vote today on a healthcare bill that doesn’t include extending enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans.The enhanced subsidies expire at the end of this year, a move that would increase ACA premiums. Projections from KFF estimate it would double premiums, causing one in four ACA beneficiaries to go without healthcare coverage. Partisan arguments over keeping the subsidies compelled the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.On Tuesday night, moderate Republicans sought to extend the subsidies but they were ruled out of order during a Rules Committee meeting, according to The Hill.House Speaker Mike Johnson has been against all efforts to extend the enhanced subsidies that were put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act. He reportedly supports the bill being voted on today, H.R. 6703, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.The bill touts lowering ACA premiums through an old route, cost-sharing reduction payments for insurers.Under the Obama administration, the government gave cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers in the ACA market to help reduce out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles, copayments and coinsurance for individuals who financially qualified.Because Congress never approved the CSR funds, Republicans in 2014 sued to stop the payments and won. The Obama administration appealed, but under President Trump’s first administration, the payments stopped.Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), a physician and a former state director of Public Health, introduced the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Act on Monday.The bill would restore cost sharing reduction payments beginning in 2027 to lower premiums for low-income enrollees in silver-level plans only.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates this would lower ACA silver-plan premiums by 11% but would decrease the number of people with health insurance by an average of 100,000 over the 2027-2035 period.The CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation also estimate that enacting the bill would reduce the deficit by $35.6 billion over the 2026-2035 period. The bill would expand access to Association Health Plans by allowing employers, including self-employed workers, to band together to purchase coverage.It would ensure small and mid-sized employers could protect themselves from catastrophic claims by clarifying that stop-loss insurance is not health insurance coverage. This would allow small businesses to offer their employees more tailored, affordable care, said Miller-Meeks.It would codify and strengthen 2019 rules allowing employers to offer defined contributions for employees to purchase their own coverage, now renamed as CHOICE arrangements and it would permit employees to pay premiums pre-tax.It would require pharmacy benefit managers to provide employers with detailed data on prescription drug spending, rebates, spread pricing and formulary decisions.The bill reportedly has the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson.“For more than a decade, working Americans have been stuck with rising costs and fewer choices under the so-called Affordable Care Act,” said Miller-Meeks. “As a physician, I’ve seen what that means for families: sky-high premiums, out-of-pocket costs they can’t afford, and limited access to care. This bill is about reversing that trend. We’re delivering lower premiums, more choices, PBM transparency, and a stronger marketplace for ALL Americans." Email the writer: [email protected] Topic: Acute Care, Ambulatory Care, Policy and Legislation, Risk Management