President Joe Biden said Wednesday he expects the Build Back Better Act will be broken up into pieces that can capture support of the full Democratic caucus, and, while he did not specifically mention health policies, those chunks are expected to include Medicare drug price negotiation and extension of the increased Affordable Care Act subsidies under the American Rescue Plan.
The BBB has been stalled since before the New Year when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) declared he could not support package in its current form. But Manchin reportedly has expressed support for some key pieces of the package -- including provisions giving Medicare power to negotiate drug prices, though he would like to see an even more aggressive provision, and extending the re-structured ACA tax credits that are more generous for people earning less than 400% of poverty and eliminate the subsidy cliff that blocked the financial assistance for people earning more than four times the poverty level. The full caucus also supports drug pricing reforms, which are expected to help pay for the coverage extensions and other policy changes. -- Amy Lotven (alotven@iwpnews.com)
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