President Joe Biden is preparing a package of second-term healthcare measures after contenders for the Republican presidential nomination suggested they plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Announcements are set to begin this week, CNN reports, for healthcare initiatives that Mr. Biden would look to pass in his second term.
Senior advisers to the president and CNN identified numerous initiatives as expected in President Biden's proposed agenda, including expanding price cuts for insulin and other drugs, which were enacted in 2022 for Medicare enrollees as part of the Inflation Reduction Act; and making enhanced federal premium subsidies — currently set to expire after 2025 — permanent.
Aides to President Biden are also investigating solutions for insurance coverage for residents in 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, according to CNN. A new public insurance option, which was part of President Biden's 2020 campaign but not his presidency, is also "in discussion in the West Wing," as CNN put it.
The White House is lending attention to healthcare proposals that failed to survive Congressional negotiations over the American Rescue Plan Act, Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation throughout President Biden's first term.
The Biden reelection campaign's renewed focus on the ACA follows challenges to the healthcare law made by Republican presidential nominee contenders. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have both suggested they plan to replace the ACA if they ascended to the presidency.
The Republicans' comments signal a change from the 2022 elections, which were the first in more than a decade in which security of the ACA was not a central issue and the Republican Party cast aside its long-running campaign to repeal it.