Over the past few weeks, I have been very involved in efforts to temporarily extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits. Let me be clear where I stand. I do not support the Affordable Care Act as it is. It is a broken system that has been plagued by fraud, waste, and abuse. As Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, I have spoken openly about this, including at a recent hearing where we exposed just how widespread that fraud has become.
At the same time, I will not turn my back on hardworking families who rely on these credits to afford health insurance. These men and women did not create this problem. And we cannot allow people to suddenly lose coverage while we work to fix a system that clearly is not working the way it should.
This week, the House passed the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Act, which does a lot of good things like requiring more transparency from Pharmacy Benefit Managers and allowing small businesses to band together to purchase affordable, high-quality coverage. But I am pushing to take it one step further. That is why I joined a bipartisan group of members pushing for a short-term extension of these tax credits, paired with real reforms and stronger guardrails to crack down on fraud. I have also joined two bipartisan discharge petitions to force action and make sure this issue does not get ignored. In addition, I have introduced my own legislation, the Tax Credit Extension Act, which would temporarily extend these credits and give Congress the time we need to replace the ACA with a system that actually lowers costs, increases choice, and works for the American people.
This approach is about responsibility. We must protect families in the short term while we reform a system that has failed them. I will keep working across the aisle to make sure no one is left behind as we push for real health care reform.
Click here to read more about my push to extend the tax credits.
Click here or the image below to watch the Oversight Subcommittee hearing on fraud in the ACA.