Thune to Welker: Premium Subsidies Discussion Must Wait Until Government Is Funded, Cites “Waste, Fraud, and Abuse” in Current Program
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated a willingness to negotiate on expiring Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) premium tax credits, but insisted that any discussion must be postponed until Congress passes a bill to keep the government open and avert a looming shutdown.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press with moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday, Senator Thune repeatedly stressed that the immediate priority is funding the government, accusing Democrats of “holding the American people hostage” by tying the healthcare issue to the shutdown deadline.
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“Keep the government open, and then let’s have a conversation about those premium tax credits. I’m certainly open to that. I think we all are,” Thune stated.
Welker pressed the Republican leader on the urgency of the matter, noting that the expiration of the subsidies—which Democrats argue could double or triple some premiums and strip financial assistance from many—would be particularly impactful in states like Thune’s, where approximately 20,000 people could become uninsured.
The moderator also pointed out that open enrollment for the ACA begins on November 1st, potentially requiring consumers to make decisions without certainty on subsidies.
Thune pushed back, asserting that the current enhancements to the tax credits, which were enacted in response to COVID-19, are not set to expire until the end of the year. He argued that the current program is “desperately in need of reform” and is “fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“This is a program where they took the lids off. There’s no income limits now, and you can make $600,000 a year and qualify for this,” Thune claimed, suggesting that reforms would be a prerequisite for any permanent extension. He also alleged that insurance companies auto-enroll individuals who are unaware they have coverage, leading to “more than half of the people that have insurance through this program never filed a claim last year.”
Despite the need for reform, Thune reiterated that there is “potentially a path forward” for addressing Democratic concerns about the subsidies, but maintained the clear sequencing.
“Let’s keep the government open. Let’s fund the government, and then let’s have the conversation about the premium tax credits,” Thune concluded. “It’s a fairly straightforward argument that we’re making.”
With the government funding deadline fast approaching on Tuesday night at midnight, the debate over the future of the Obamacare tax credits remains secondary to the immediate crisis of averting a federal shutdown.
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