Hoyer: House will vote soon on bill to improve ObamaCare

The House will vote the week of June 29 on a bill aimed at improving the Affordable Care Act (ACA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday. 

Hoyer said the measure would help improve the affordability of plans under the law. 

“We’re going to meet on the Affordable Care Act, trying to bring the costs of premiums and co-pays and deductibles in the Affordable Care Act down to a place where people can in fact afford them,” Hoyer said during a webinar hosted by the law firm Baker Hostetler. 

The exact details of the measure are not yet clear, though sources said the bill will increase the subsidies that help people afford premiums, as well as other items aimed at strengthening the law. 

The measure is not likely to go anywhere in the Senate, given the Republican opposition to the ACA. 

House Democrats had originally been planning to introduce an ACA improvement bill in March to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the law’s passage, but ended up delaying the move as the coronavirus crisis emerged. 

The party’s freshmen members who beat Republicans in 2018 made health care a central theme of their campaigns, and the new ACA bill would be a way to try to emphasize the health care theme again. 

House Democrats also passed a major bill to lower drug prices last year, though that effort has lost momentum as it has been overshadowed by coronavirus.