Biden and a divided Congress seek common ground on health care reforms

President Biden’s budget proposal includes ambitious measures to cut health care costs, but a divided government poses a serious challenge to those proposals, and lawmakers have yet to indicate where they are prepared to unite.

Biden’s budget proposes to increase discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by $14.8 billion by 2023, raise taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year to keep Medicaid solvent, make ObamaCare tax contributions permanent, and impose a cap on at $35 per month. the cost of insulin in the commercial market.

Republican leaders have already said tax hikes make no sense, and GOP lawmakers have expressed a desire to cut Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax premiums, which Biden seeks to set in stone.

While Republicans have yet to release their own budget plan, which Biden did not hesitate to point to when pushing his proposal, they are expected to call for cuts in health care spending in some areas, such as the ACA and Medicaid. Programs including Medicare and Social Security have been deemed out of the discussion, but lawmakers in the party insist the cuts are needed to address the public debt problem.

Since the House of Representatives is under the control of the Republican Party, compromises will have to be made in order for the budget to pass in Congress. On Thursday, Democratic senators were optimistic that they could discuss several issues with their Republican counterparts.

Senator Ben Ray Lujan (DN.M.) said he was not aware of any measures Republicans have expressed willingness to consider, but pointed to the ACA tax break as one where he thinks bipartisanship could happen.

“There are voters in every one of our states who are benefiting from these loans, and when I hear all of my colleagues talking about the challenges voters face, each of us is concerned about the higher costs in any space,” Lujan said. “As a stroke survivor, I can tell you how important it is to have access to healthcare. It saves lives.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee member Senator Tim Kaine (R-Virginia) expressed confidence on several issues that he thinks the two sides could come together on.

“I was happy to see a good solid investment in technology at the border that can be used to prevent fentanyl penetration, and this should be a place where we can work together,” Kane said. “Some things for childcare, we have good, solid [Republican] voted this up with omni last year, so there might be some possibilities.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (D-Utah) said he appreciates the effort and amount of action Biden has budgeted for.

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“I disagree with many of them. As for healthcare, we are working on them, so I don’t have an answer yet, ”Romney said.

Asked which of Biden’s health care proposals he’s willing to consider, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said he’d like to see an increase in health savings accounts (HSAs), which were not included in the president’s budget.

HSAs are savings accounts where you can deposit pre-tax dollars to use later to pay for qualified medical expenses. People can only contribute to the HSA if they have a high deductible health plan. In December, Paul introduced legislation that would allow more people to contribute to the HSA, whether they have insurance or not, and expand the list of expenses that HSA contributions can go towards.

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