Editor’s note: As a part of the deal to reopen the federal government, Republican leaders agreed to schedule a vote on, but not guarantee, extending federal healthcare subsidies, aka “Obamacare subsidies”, by mid-December. All 5 of New Mexico’s members of Congress voted against that deal, preferring to hold out for a permanent extension. With just weeks until that self-imposed deadline and potential double-digit hikes in New Mexicans’ healthcare premiums, we asked Senior Reporter Alex Ross to check with our legislators get see what progress, if any, is happening behind the scenes. He reached Rep.Teresa Leger Fernández on Thursday.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-NM, in an exclusive interview with NM Political Report Thursday, said Republicans, who say they want to extend a series of federal tax credits designed to make health insurance more affordable, need to back up their words with action.
“What I always say is the currency that matters in Congress is your vote or your signature on a discharge petition,” Leger Fernández said about the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, which will end Dec. 31 without a solution from Congress. A discharge petition is a parliamentary maneuver that allows a bill to come to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote without the support of House leadership if that petition receives signatures of support from at least 218 House members.
A petition has been introduced for a three-year extension of the credits. Leger Fernández stated that some Republicans have publicly called for continuing the credits, but so far, none have signed the petition to force a vote.
“I haven’t seen a single Republican signature yet on that,” Leger Fernández said. She added that there is no actual bill that has commanded bipartisan support.
“So that’s what we’re waiting for. And there are some bipartisan proposals out there where we hear rumors of them, but we haven’t seen the actual text,” she said.
NM Political Report recently reported that the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance has projected that premiums will rise by between 35% and 52% for New Mexicans who depend on the state’s exchange for insurance. The report stated that 66,000 New Mexicans who buy insurance on the state’s exchange qualify for at least some premium support.
Meanwhile, Leger Fernández said she has heard directly from anxious constituents.
“From across the district, people have been sending in emails,” Leger Fernández said. She cites the example of, the owner of a small donut shop and father in Santa Fe, who told her that without the credits, his family would need to spend about half of their household income to maintain their current health insurance.
New Mexico lawmakers recently approved, and the governor signed, a measure to use state funds for a six-month extension of the credits for New Mexicans who purchase insurance through the state’s exchange. Leger Fernández argued that it is only a temporary fix, which is why a federal solution is necessary.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, is floating an alternative to the credits. He is advocating for a plan that would redirect money used for the credits into tax-free health savings accounts for those individuals who currently qualify for the credits.
But Leger Fernández said such a plan would disrupt the healthcare system further and lead to people purchasing junk plans, which lack consumer protections and provide few benefits. Leger Fernández said that she has long backed a medicare-for-all system, but she said that until such a solution is enacted, the best alternative is to extend the credits.