President Joe Biden is preparing a package of health care measures that he would aim to pass in a second term, with announcements starting this week centered on cutting prescription drug prices.
Biden and aides see the potential to transform health care coverage and cost for millions of Americans and, along the way, give the president a full-throated, forward-looking argument on an issue that has consistently delivered for Democrats in recent election cycles. They believe former President Donald Trump made that much easier by suddenly renewing his calls to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act – giving them a strong contrast point with the GOP front-runner.
Expected to be part of the president’s proposed agenda: expanding the provisions cutting prices for insulin and other drugs, which were enacted for Medicare enrollees last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and further strengthening the Affordable Care Act by making permanent the enhanced federal premium subsidies that have helped about 10 million people afford coverage on the Obamacare exchanges. The beefed-up assistance is set to expire after 2025.
Aides and advocates are also looking at potential workarounds to provide access to Obamacare coverage in the 10 remaining states that have not expanded Medicaid, now that North Carolina made the move early this month. That alone would make roughly 3.5 million more Americans eligible for Medicaid, according to independent estimates, mostly in deep-red states, but with top 2024 presidential battleground states Wisconsin and Georgia on the list too.
Aides to Trump were themselves caught by surprise when he announced over Thanksgiving weekend his plans to get rid of Obamacare, and many Republicans have ducked any response to it since. But Trump dug in again over the weekend in Iowa, telling a rally that Obamacare “will never be any good.”
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply