{"id":45572,"date":"2025-12-11T11:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T19:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45572"},"modified":"2025-12-11T11:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T19:59:12","slug":"senate-gop-healthcare-plan-decried-as-utter-joke-that-would-devastate-sick-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/senate-gop-healthcare-plan-decried-as-utter-joke-that-would-devastate-sick-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate GOP Healthcare Plan Decried as \u2018Utter Joke\u2019 That Would Devastate Sick Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sen.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) speaks to reporters on December 3, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One campaigner said Republicans want to force people \u201conto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 10, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/trinitymedia.ai\/player\/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fsenate-republican-healthcare-plan&contentHash=7e8513c0bc6fd24f14838bd2c9bc704b56bac963da68d8ee12b3155ea920043d&unitId=2900021701&userId=5752cafe-a61d-4177-b146-0c8454dc0ef8&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20251211_d8c2a2719b0712ca9e219672b9456ae9de1a7181&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=478&isMobile=0&unitType=tts-player&integrationType=web<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Republican healthcare<\/a> proposal that\u2019s set for a vote in the US Senate<\/a> on Thursday would not prevent insurance premiums from skyrocketing for tens of millions of Americans and would likely harm sicker people by promoting high-deductible plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GOP bill<\/a>, led by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would allow enhanced Affordable Care Act<\/a> (ACA) tax credits to expire, replacing them in 2026 and 2027 with an annual payment of up to $1,500 in tax-advantaged health savings accounts to help cover out-of-pocket costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sanders<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sanders Denounces Trump-GOP Healthcare Proposal as \u2018Absurd\u2019\u2014and Deadly<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Sen.<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Report Details How \u2018Half-Baked\u2019 GOP Healthcare Scheme Would Further Enrich Insurance Giants<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The catch is that only Americans enrolled in high-deductible bronze or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges would be eligible for the funding, which could not be used on monthly premiums. In 2026, the average individual deductible for bronze plans is $7,476<\/a>, and the average for catastrophic plans is $10,600.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, said<\/a> Tuesday that \u201cpremium payments would still more than double next year\u201d under the GOP<\/a> plan, which does not have enough support to overcome the Senate\u2019s 60-vote filibuster<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHealthy people could be better off in a high deductible plan with a health savings account,\u201d Levitt noted. \u201cPeople who are sick would face big premium increases or a deductible they can\u2019t afford.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Woodhouse, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, called<\/a> Senate Republicans<\/a>\u2019 legislation \u201can utter joke that would set healthcare progress back by decades and leave Americans high and dry without the care and coverage they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepublicans are proving once again how unserious they are,\u201d said Woodhouse. \u201cInstead of protecting hard-working families, Sens. Cassidy and Crapo want to force them off the insurance plans they like and onto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt. That\u2019s not what American families want, and it\u2019s certainly not what they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked earlier this week if he supports the Crapo-Cassidy bill, President Donald Trump<\/a> responded, \u201cI like the concept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate GOP plan was introduced as a counter to Democrats\u2019 push for a clean three-year extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies. Republicans, who passed legislation over the summer that enacted the largest-ever cuts to Medicaid<\/a>, are expected to vote down the Democratic plan on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center on Budget<\/a> and Policy Priorities estimates<\/a> that if the ACA tax credits lapse at the end of the year, \u201ca couple making $44,000 (208% of the poverty<\/a> level) will see their monthly marketplace premium rise from $85 to $253\u2014an annual increase of $2,013.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Senate vote looming, House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-La) is \u201cstill trying to figure out\u201d his healthcare proposal, Politico<\/em> reported<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal is for GOP lawmakers to have \u2018something\u2019 to vote on before the end of next week, according to one of the senior\u00a0House Republicans<\/a>\u00a0involved in the talks,\u201d the outlet added, \u201ceven if there is no time left for the Senate to pass it before the subsidies lapse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) speaks to reporters on December 3, 2025.  (Photo by Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) One campaigner said Republicans want to force people \u201conto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt.\u201d Jake Johnson Dec 10, 2025 https:\/\/trinitymedia.ai\/player\/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fsenate-republican-healthcare-plan&contentHash=7e8513c0bc6fd24f14838bd2c9bc704b56bac963da68d8ee12b3155ea920043d&unitId=2900021701&userId=5752cafe-a61d-4177-b146-0c8454dc0ef8&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20251211_d8c2a2719b0712ca9e219672b9456ae9de1a7181&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=478&isMobile=0&unitType=tts-player&integrationType=web The Republican healthcare proposal that\u2019s… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45572"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45573,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45572\/revisions\/45573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}