The proposed change would provide coverage for 200,000 uninsured family members while lowering premiums for almost a million more people, an administration official said.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, alongside former President Barack Obama, announced efforts Tuesday to expand access to health care by proposing changes to the Affordable Care Act that would make more people eligible for premium tax credits to buy ACA marketplace plans.
“Starting next year, working families in America will get the help they need to afford full family coverage, everyone in the family,” Biden said at a White House event promoting the law and announcing the change. “As a result, families will be saving hundreds of dollars a month.”
The Treasury Department proposal would allow families to receive tax credits if their coverage costs exceed more than 10 percent of their incomes, a senior administration official told reporters. The change, scheduled to take effect in January, would allow 200,000 uninsured people to gain coverage and lower premiums for a million others, the official said.
Obama’s attendance at the event was his first time back at the White House since he left office, and the first first joint appearance with Biden since they attended events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last fall.
Obama, who on Monday jokingly referred to Biden as vice president, recounted the struggles his administration faced getting the ACA passed and implemented amid Republican opposition.
“I intended to get health care passed, even if it cost me re-election, which for a while it looked like it might,” Obama quipped.
