AJR 24: Health care coverage: enhanced premium tax credits: health savings accounts.

WHEREAS, Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health care affordability has become a serious concern in most American households, with premiums on the individual market increasing by up to approximately 150 percent; and

WHEREAS, These cost increases cannot be attributed to a single source, but rather are the result of numerous policy changes which have driven up the cost of care; and

WHEREAS, In an effort to mitigate premium increases for low-income families, the ACA authorized premium tax credits, later expanded into the enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which offer low-income families financial assistance when purchasing health care coverage, reducing premiums by up to 75 percent; and

WHEREAS, The ePTCs are set to expire at the end of 2025, resulting in a detrimental impact for all beneficiaries, with premiums anticipated to increase by as much as 100 percent; and

WHEREAS, In 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created health savings accounts (HSAs), allowing persons to make tax-free contributions and withdrawals to cover the costs of certain medical expenses; and

WHEREAS, HSAs, in conjunction with ePTCs, have provided American families with the opportunity to proactively save for medical expenses; and

WHEREAS, Recent Congressional deliberations have centered around extending the ePTCs, as well as issuing federal contributions to HSAs, and collectively these efforts provide low-income persons with the overall greatest premium assistance and should be included within any premium assistance legislative proposal; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature calls upon Congress to reauthorize the ePTCs; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges Congress to continue exploring the concept of bolstering the HSAs of people making up to 700 percent of the federal poverty line with a high-deductible plan; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.