Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was a deciding vote that kept the Affordable Care Act standing last summer, and she has had a lot of leverage in negotiations on the GOP tax bill this fall. Collins says she will vote for the bill even though it repeals the ACA’s mandate that most people buy insurance or pay a penalty.
In exchange for that vote, she has assurances that payments for low-income consumers called cost-sharing subsidies will be restored and that a bill to stabilize the markets will move forward. Collins maintains the trade-offs will make up for losing the mandate, but that’s still a question mark. Maine Public Radio’s Patty Wight filed this NPR story on the issue.
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