A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is likely to postpone the release of a legislative framework aimed at reviving expired Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies until the final week of January, a lead negotiator said on Tuesday.
Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, indicated that the group would not have legislative text ready as originally anticipated this week, marking a delay as negotiators work to “iron out the details” of the proposal.
“We have to make sure we get it right,” Moreno stated in an interview with Politico, noting that the group intended to meet later Tuesday to resolve remaining “areas of angst.”
The negotiating team—which includes Moreno, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire—is reportedly struggling with the Hyde Amendment, which mandates that federal funding cannot cover abortion services.
According to Politico, the lawmakers are divided over whether the current methods of segregating funds for health services comply with these federal restrictions. Moreno emphasized the difficulty of the deadlock, stating, “We have to get that resolution, and we’re trying to figure out a way to kind of land that.”
“The reality is, once we get past that issue, there’s decent agreement on everything else,” Moreno told reporters.
To bridge the gap, negotiators are weighing a compromise that would accompany the revival of enhanced Obamacare credits. This potential policy would increase audits and penalties on insurance plans to ensure stricter enforcement of how federal funds are dispersed, specifically regarding the segregation of funds from abortion services.
The decision to push the framework’s release until after the Senate’s upcoming recess suggests that negotiators remain far apart on these thorny issues. The proposed package is intended to restore subsidies that have already lapsed, which were originally designed to lower insurance costs for Americans.
While Moreno had hoped for a swifter rollout, he maintained that the delay is necessary to ensure all framework elements are finalized among the bipartisan participants.