WASHINGTON – The GOP healthcare plan will be updated to include more generous tax credits for older Americans to buy insurance, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday, noting that he’s confident it will pass because President Trump “has become a great closer.”
Addressing concerns the Republican Obamacare replacement plan will especially hurt low-income people over age 50, Ryan said helping 50- and 60-year-olds will
be part of this week’s “fine-tuning.”
“We believe that we do need to add some additional assistance to people in those older cohorts,” Ryan told Fox News Sunday.
“The older person – the person in their 50s and 60s – does have additional healthcare costs than, say, a person in their 20s and 30s. … And that’s one of the things we’re looking at for that person in their 50s and 60s because they experience higher healthcare costs.”
The plan has been flatly rejected by Democrats, while moderate Republicans fear it doesn’t do enough to help vulnerable populations, while conservatives argue it doesn’t go far enough to undo government intrusion into healthcare.
Ryan and Trump can only afford to lose 21 GOP votes in the House.
“I feel very good about it, actually,” Ryan said of having the necessary votes Thursday. “I feel it’s exactly where we want to be.”
He added: “The reason I feel so good about this is because the president has become a great closer. He’s the one who has helped negotiate changes to this bill with members from all over our caucus.”
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price acknowledged the White House is open to the proposed changes for older Americans and Medicaid. Addressing all the concerns is “what tough legislation looks like.”
“It’s a fine needle that needs to be thread, there’s no doubt about it,” Price told ABC’s “This Week.”
The Congressional Budget Office predicted this week about 24 million fewer Americans would be insured under the Republican healthcare plan by 2026 largely by eliminating the individual mandate and curbing Medicaid growth.
Poorer, older Americans would be especially hard hit with higher premiums and less generous government assistance to buy insurance.
For example, a 64-year-old making $26,500 would see premiums increase from $1,700 to $14,600, the CBO found. That’s because the GOP plan would offer only $4,900 in tax credits, compared to $13,600 under Obamacare subsides.
While Republicans have largely panned the CBO report as an incomplete analysis, the concern for older Americans has seemed to stick.
Ryan said the more generous tax credits will be among the changes the House Rules committee will take up this week in advance of a final House floor vote – planned for Thursday.
Among the other changes Ryan says are under consideration are allowing states to impose a work requirement for Medicaid recipients and allowing states to accept a block grant for Medicaid.
“Until we bring the bill to the floor we are always making improvement,” Ryan said.