The U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Health Subcommittee voted 23 to 16 along party lines to move a portion of the new American Health Care Act to the House Budget Committee.
The markup debate—which lasted until 4 a.m. and saw numerous Democratic amendments fail — centered on what Democrats called a $400 million corporate tax break to insurance CEOs and other top executives.
The provision under the new American Health Care Act raises the cap on the annual corporate income tax deduction for CEO and other top executive health insurance compensation from $500,000 to $1 million.
The estimated loss of revenue over the next 10 years under the new provision is $400 million, according to Thomas Barthold, Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff. The net cost of the repeal of the income tax cap is $157.6 billion from 2018 to 2026, Barthold added.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas asked for a postponement of a vote until March 16 to give the Congressional Budget Office time to score the cost of the plan. A motion to table Doggett's request passed in a 23-16 vote along party lines.
The CBO is expected to release its figures next week.
Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee continued debate on Democratic amendments to the bill through the night.
The GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act faces opposition from Democrats and from some conservative members of the Republican party.
On Wednesday, Democratic amendments brought forward in the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee all failed by vote or were deemed not germane to the issue.
These included amendments to protect Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans and a requirement that any taxpayer benefiting from the net investment income tax cut for high-income earners have a clean drug test annually, according to the Ways and Means Democrats. This corresponded to a Republican plan to allow states to require drug testing for Americans to receive unemployment benefits.
Also, Ways and Means Republicans blocked votes on amendments that would repeal the Cadillac tax, ensure the bill does not result in rural hospital closures or job losses at these hospitals, prevent middle class tax increases and require no increase in taxes on families earning less than $250,000 per year, require no loss of coverage or an increase in the number of uninsured individuals, enable states to opt out of the healthcare bill and keep their options provided under the ACA, require no increase in out-of-pocket costs or reduced availability of coverage or benefits for individuals over 55 years old, require no increase uncompensated care or a loss of jobs at local hospitals, require the bill to be fully paid for and not increase the number of uninsured Americans and request President Donald Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
