Health Care Affordability Act of 2025
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Health Care Affordability Act of 2025
This bill makes permanent temporary changes enacted by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) that generally expand eligibility for and increase the amount of the premium tax credit.
Currently, eligible taxpayers may be able to claim the premium tax credit, which applies toward the cost of obtaining health insurance through health insurance exchanges. To be eligible for the premium tax credit, a taxpayer’s household income must meet or exceed 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and, after 2025, may not exceed 400% of the FPL (maximum income limit). For 2021-2025, the ARPA and IRA eliminated the maximum income limit, which generally expands eligibility for the premium tax credit.
Further, under current law, the amount of the premium tax credit is (1) generally the plan premium (conditions apply), minus (2) the taxpayer’s household income multiplied by the applicable percentage. The applicable percentage is a specific percentage that varies depending on which of six income ranges (adjusted for inflation after 2025) the taxpayer’s household income falls within. For 2021-2025, the ARPA and IRA lowered the applicable percentages and eliminated the adjustment of the applicable percentages for inflation, which generally increases the amount of the premium tax credit.
The bill makes permanent the elimination of the 400% maximum income limit, the lower applicable percentages, and the elimination of the inflation adjustment for the applicable percentages.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on January 9, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 9, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced it on January 9, 2025, and 44 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 43 Democrats, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 9, 2025, 609 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 609 days ago, on January 9, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers