ICYMI: Congresswoman Lee Urges Senate Leaders to Include the House in Negotiations to Lower Health Care Costs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) joined a bipartisan group of 32 representatives in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urging them to include House members in negotiations ahead of the promised vote in December to address the expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
“If we work together, our hope is that the bill will not only achieve a sixty-vote majority in the Senate, but will also then move to the House for immediate consideration and passage. Bipartisan engagement across both chambers will be essential to crafting a health care proposal that can pass and be signed into law. On November 1, with the start of the open enrollment period, millions of Americans saw just how much their health insurance premium costs will spike next year,” wrote the members.
“Millions will lose their health care coverage because they will no longer be able to afford it. As you know, those who rely on the expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) are facing drastic premium increases,” the members continued. “Allowing these tax credits to lapse without a clear path forward would risk real harm to those we represent.”
Read the full letter HERE.
Throughout the government shutdown, Congresswoman Lee has continued to sound the alarm on the health care crisis facing Nevada since Republicans in Washington took away tax credits that nearly 30,000 southern Nevadans depend on to afford their health insurance. Lee visited Federally Qualified Health Centers that could be forced to cut services, met with southern Nevadans who will face debilitating cost increases, and heard from providers who worried about what these cuts could mean for their patients. Without these credits, costs for families could rise by up to fourfold.
She also cosponsors the Bipartisan Premium Tax Credit Extension Act, which would provide a one-year extension of the ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, providing members of Congress time to negotiate a permanent solution.
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