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FIRST ON FOX: The leader of the House GOP’s largest caucus is rolling out a plan to scale back Obamacare while giving Americans the option to open new health savings accounts (HSAs) named after President Donald Trump.
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, is filing legislation on Monday called “The More Affordable Care Act,” he told Fox News Digital.
States would be allowed to opt out of major facets of Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provided they had other systems in place for ensuring premiums were not hiked for high-risk patient pools.
Those “waiver states” would then be allowed to either run their own healthcare exchange platforms or oversee private company-run platforms, which Republicans argue will allow more choice in the healthcare marketplace in addition to the federal government’s options.
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Federal dollars that currently go toward lowering the cost of insurance premiums in those states would be rerouted into personal HSAs for eligible enrollees called “Trump Health Freedom Accounts.”
The bill would also allow Americans to shop across state lines for healthcare plans, with any healthcare program run under a “waiver state” needing to be easily available to people in other “waiver states.”
Rather than doing away with Obamacare altogether — something many GOP lawmakers have acknowledged may be an impossible task — the bill would seek to increase competition for people where the federal option is the only choice.
The legislation’s introduction comes as Republican lawmakers are scrambling for a solution to address rising healthcare premium prices, which could see millions of Americans pay significantly more for healthcare starting next year.
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One of the most high-profile factors in that price cliff is Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, but which are set to expire at the end of this year.
The majority of Republicans are opposed to extending those enhancements, arguing the COVID-era program only helped fuel skyrocketing health costs without addressing the core problem.
But Democrats and some moderate Republicans have viewed an extension as a key way to prevent healthcare from becoming unaffordable for millions of people.
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House GOP leaders are working on a healthcare package that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said could get a vote by the end of this month.
It’s not clear if Pfluger’s bill will be included in that package. But as the head of the House GOP’s de facto conservative think tank, he’s played a key role in advising Republican leadership in crafting their reforms.
A source familiar told Fox News Digital that they anticipated “significant interest” from other House Republicans once the bill is introduced on Monday.
Meanwhile, Pfluger told Fox News Digital, “By establishing Health Freedom Accounts, we’re putting healthcare decisions back where they belong: in the hands of American families, not Washington bureaucrats. The American people deserve better than throwing more money at a failed system, and we’re delivering the commonsense solutions they expect.”
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His bill is the House counterpart to legislation previously introduced by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in Congress’ upper chamber.
Scott told Fox News Digital, “We don’t have to replace Obamacare, we keep exchanges, we keep protections for preexisting conditions – but we can add options for families, allowing them to shop across state lines, increasing transparency in health care, and giving any financial support to them directly through HSA-style Trump Health Freedom Accounts, so families can choose the care that fits their needs.”
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