Health coverage would be expanded under Democrats’ spending plan
It would provide millions of uninsured Americans with new coverage.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s new social spending framework includes an expansion of health insurance that would provide millions of uninsured Americans with new coverage. But most of the health care programs that appeared in an earlier version of the proposal have been scaled back.
Notably, the revised plan does not include any provision to lower the prices of prescription drugs or the amount that older people with Medicare pay for costly medications.
Proposals to offer vision and dental benefits to Medicare recipients have also been eliminated, although the framework would establish new coverage for hearing aids.
The insurance expansion would provide generous subsidies to Americans who buy their own coverage, extending a temporary bump that was approved this year as part of the American Rescue Plan stimulus bill. The provisions offer free plans to many low-income Americans and new financial help with premiums to higher earners.
The plan would also offer subsidies and added benefits to very low-income adults in the 12 states, mostly in the South, that have declined to expand their Medicaid programs. Poor adults in those states, most of whom are ineligible for government aid for health coverage, would qualify for free private plans from the Affordable Care Act marketplaces that would charge minimal fees for doctor visits.
Both the enhanced subsidies and the Medicaid gap policies would expire at the end of 2025, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the negotiations and the text of a legislative draft released by the House Rules Committee Thursday.
The plan would expand funding for home health services for olderand disabled patients in the Medicaid program, many of whom are forced to seek care in nursing homes because of long waiting lists for services at home.
The omission of a prescription drug provision has angered Democrats across the political spectrum. And the elimination of a Medicare dental benefit disappointed many progressives, who had hoped that such a provision would improve public health and build political gratitude among older voters. But the dental benefit would have been expensive and taken several years to put in place.
All the details remain subject to ongoing negotiation and possible amendment as they make their way through the legislative process.
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