Latest House healthcare bill includes concessions to conservatives: Politico

[March 07, 2017] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The latest version of a House Republican bill to replace Obamacare would limit who could receive tax credits to help purchase health insurance, Politico reported on Monday, in an effort to secure the support of the chamber's conservative wing.

Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump have repeatedly promised to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement but have publicly disagreed about the best way to do so. The House of Representatives is expected to unveil its legislation soon.

Under a Feb. 10 draft of the legislation made available to several news outlets, Republicans proposed offering an age-based refundable tax credit regardless of income level. That was resisted by conservatives who called it another entitlement program. Critics also said extremely wealthy people would receive the credit even though they do not need it.

In the most recent version of the bill, the tax credits would only be available to those within certain income levels, according to Politico. They would start to phase out for individuals earning $75,000 and households earning $150,000, and would be unavailable for individuals who earn more than $215,000, Politico reported.

Republicans had also initially proposed capping exemptions on employer-provided health coverage, a provision that drew the ire of some conservatives who said the bill would remove Obamacare's taxes only to replace it with another.

According to Politico, the latest version of the bill would not include a cap. The bill also delays repealing several of Obamacare's taxes until 2018, a year later than initially proposed, Politico reported.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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