Dec. 14 (UPI) — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said Sunday that he believes a deal on Affordable Care Act subsidies could be made before the tax credits expire at the end of the year, a dispute that was at the center of the six-week government shutdown earlier this year.
Cassidy insisted Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program that the deal could be reached despite just four legislative working days left before the end of the year.
“If somebody gets a policy with a $6,000 deductible, that’s effectively no policy. It brings profit to the insurance company, but not protection to the patient,” Cassidy said.
He said that Republicans have pushed putting “money in the patient’s pocket” so that they have money to pay for out-of-pocket expenses while Democrats are saying “let’s do something about premiums.”
“I think, Dana, there is a deal that could be made. Why don’t we do both?” he said. “Let’s go ahead and not give the profit to the insurance company, but the protection to the patient.”
Cassidy said he wants to shift money away from insurers and toward patients by giving families direct access to funds — roughly $1,000 to $5,000 — to help cover upfront health care costs.
He also suggested temporarily extending enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to ease insurance costs for people facing especially high medical expenses.
But Cassidy said that, from the Republican perspective, any deal “has to have reform to cut out the fraud.”
“There’s an estimated billions of dollars in fraud the way the current system is currently constructed,” Cassidy said.
A Government Accountability Office report released earlier this month found fraud risks and administrative weaknesses in the ACA’s advance premium tax credit system, but it does not quantify confirmed fraud losses in the billions or estimate a total fraud dollar amount.
“It’s something that’s being worked on because we have got to do something about affordability,” Cassidy said.
While time is running out before the tax credits expire, Cassidy said some of the policy changes could roll out gradually in early 2026, pointing to health savings accounts as a model where people pay costs upfront, keep receipts and are reimbursed later.
“So, let’s put money in their pocket to pay the out-of-pocket that really addresses affordability and then help those who also have the higher premiums,” he said.
Cassidy’s comments come after the U.S. Senate failed Thursday to approve either of two competing healthcare plans meant to address healthcare costs likely to rise in the new year with the expiration of ACA tax credits.
Democrats and Republicans had each proposed healthcare plans, but neither received the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule.
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