WASHINGTON, D.C. – Not only have Democrats shut down the government in order to force taxpayers to subsidize health insurance for illegal immigrants, they are also fighting to protect those subsidies for wealthier households and big insurance companies.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) said:
“Republican health care reforms will reduce prices and make care more affordable and accessible for working families. This is a stark contrast to how Democrats used emergency spending to subsidize the wealthy and fill the pockets of big insurance companies. Their approach failed to help Americans in need or to address the underlying challenges in our health care system. The actual problems leading to higher premiums are not the expiration of temporary Biden Covid-era tax credits to big insurance companies, but issues Democrats have failed time and again to confront, like less choice and competition, health system consolidation, and higher provider costs.”
FACT: Democrats directed expanded health care subsidies to wealthier households.
- Democrats promoted unfair giveaways to the wealthy, not working-class Americans by removing income limits when expanding subsidies for health care coverage. High income households making well over half a million dollars annually can qualify for taxpayer subsidies under the “Biden Covid Credits.”
- With no income cap, expanded PTCs benefit wealthy enrollees in high-cost areas.
- A family of four in Prescott, AZ making $600,000 annually qualifies.
- A married couple in West Virginia making $580,000 annually qualifies.
- A single individual in Vermont making $180,000 annually qualifies.
FACT: Democrats are defending unfair taxpayer-funded subsidies for large health insurance companies, while Republicans are supporting patients and providers, particularly in rural communities.
- Nearly all Obamacare premium tax credit (PTC) dollars constitute direct spending going to large health insurers, like UnitedHealthcare – not patients.
- Over $100 billion of the annual spending goes directly to large health insurers.
- The PTC is the largest refundable tax credit in the tax code and over 83 percent of it is direct subsidy spending, not offsetting any owed taxes.
- Extending the “Biden Covid Credits” is a $400 billion giveaway to insurance companies – not tax relief for American families. These are the same corporations that health care providers criticize for underpayments and excessive prior authorization practices.
- Republicans are putting Americans first by giving direct assistance to patients through expanded financial tools like Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and supporting health care providers, such as through the historic $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program included as part of the working families tax cuts – not bailouts to large health insurers.
Read: Democrats’ Failed Health Care Policies: Higher Prices, Less Choice, More Fraud