Alabama’s Republican House members all supported the Republican health care legislation on Wednesday (Dec. 17) that does not extend pandemic-era health insurance subsidies, virtually guaranteeing the tax credits will expire at the end of the year.
The bill expands access to association health plans, allowing small businesses to pool resources to provide health coverage. It also imposes new transparency requirements on pharmacy benefit managers and appropriates money for cost-sharing reduction payments to help lower-income Americans pay for insurance.
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“I’m supportive because I’m ready to see what we can do to reduce what the American people are paying for health insurance,” Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, told Alabama Daily News.
Reps. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, Mike Rogers, R-Saks, Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, and Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, all voted for the GOP measure. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, did not vote, but expressed support for the bill. Democrat Reps. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and Shomari Figures of Mobile opposed it.
In Alabama, nearly 447,000 people receive tax credits to help pay for their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research group. Roughly 130,000 Alabamians could be priced out of affording coverage at all when the enhanced subsidies lapse, according to Alabama Arise.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alex Angle and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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