Democrats pressure Biden to include Medicare expansion, prescription drugs in his American Families Plan
WASHINGTON – Democrats on Capitol Hill are ramping up pressure on President Joe Biden to make Medicare expansion and prescription drug measures part of his his upcoming American Families Plan proposal as the White House signals it won’t include major health care policy reforms.
In a letter to Biden on Sunday, 17 senators led by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, I- Vt., who caucuses with Democrats, pushed for Medicare expansion to be part of the American Families Plan, the second piece of Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda that he plans to roll out in a speech Wednesday to Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week called for Biden’s plan to include measures to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices as House Democrats revived a drug price negotiation bill.
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The American Families Plan is expected to include investments in child care, paid family leave and education, paid for by a combination of tax increases on high-income earners. The White House has described the investments as “human infrastructure” to complement a $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, that Biden proposed this month.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week listed health care separately from the families plan as she previewed what Biden will discuss in his speech.
“He will definitely talk in his speech about his commitment to expanding and increasing access to health care,” Psaki said Friday, pointing to action the president already took in his COVID-19 rescue plan to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies and extend the ACA enrollment period.
She added that the American Families Plan “will not represent the totality of every priority item for him and every item on his agenda that he wants to move forward as president.”
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While the families plan proposal is still fluid, The Washington Post reported the package will come in at around $1.8 billion. That includes $300 billion for education, including free two-year community college; $225 billion for child care; $225 billion for paid family and medical leave; and $200 billion for pre-kindergarten expansion.
In a last-minute change, The Post reported that the plan will also include $200 billion to extend more health insurance subsidies through the Affordable Care Act. It would mean the families plan would include some spending on health care but not at the scale demanded by progressives.
The families plan will not include a $700 billion effort to expand health coverage or reduce government spending on prescription drugs, according to The New York Times, which reported the administration is opting to pursue that as a separate initiative later.
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Sunday, Sanders and Democratic senators asked Biden include proposals to reduce the Medicare eligibility age, which is now 65, expand Medicare benefits to include hearing, dental and vision care, cap out-of-pocket expenses and negotiate lower drug prices.
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Combined, Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families would cost about $4 trillion. The president has proposed an increase in the corporate tax rate to pay for the former and is expected to propose increasing the capital gains tax to cover the families plan. The White House has vowed that no families earning less than $400,000 a year would pay more in taxes under the plan.
a group of senators propose a counteroffer one-quarter the price tag – and are expected to also fight the families plan.
Biden could choose to seek passage of both through budget reconciliation, which would require no Republican votes in the evenly divided Senate. The White House has not said whether it will seek passing the jobs and families separately or combine them into one bill.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.