Key Republican teases second GOP megabill to tackle health care

Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Rep. Austin Pfluger, on Tuesday previewed a second GOP megabill focused on health care – amid mounting concerns that Congress will not reach an agreement to extend expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Those subsidies, or tax credits, are set to expire at the end of the year, and lawmakers are pointing fingers at one another for the legislature's likely failure to make a deal. Instead, some Republicans are eyeing a sequel bill to the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that would include a number of reforms to health care.

“The Republican Study Committee is championing a second reconciliation package that would address the affordability of health care with multiple pieces of legislation,” Pfluger, a Texas Republican, said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. 

“What we want to see is competition,” he said. “First and foremost, we want to see transparency … .There are plenty of middlemen in this system who are taking away from the savings that the patients that Americans should be getting.”

If the subsidies expire, the cost of premiums for subsidized enrollees who currently pay for premiums will, on average, more than double, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Pfluger floated a number of other ideas to lower the cost of healthcare, including taking aim at premiums and the price of prescription drugs, saying “we have several pieces of legislation that actually have passed the House, or the full House, that would reduce premiums by 12 to 13%."

“Secondly, President Trump is right to make sure that a priority of ours is to bring down the price of drugs,” he added. “We shouldn't be paying the exorbitant rates for drugs when you see many other countries that are paying 10%, 20%, 30% of that.”

Pfluger also pointed to health savings accounts as an alternative option that would help people pursue private coverage in place of government-subsidized options.

Thus far, however, the bill appears to be in its early stages, with the Republican Study Committee merely exploring ideas to include in a future package.

“How do we do that in a good, conservative way?” he asked rhetorically. “Conservative fair market principles.”

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.