On March 25, the Senate passed, 56-43, H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. The House passed the measure, as amended, later the same day by a vote of 220-207. The House approved the original version on March 21 (see The Source, 3/19/10). The bill makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), which President Obama signed into law on March 23.
During consideration of the bill, the Senate struck two provisions related to the higher education portions of the bill, thus requiring it to be sent back to the House for final passage. The president is expected to sign the measure into law.
The legislation increases federal subsidies for families with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($22,050 to $88,200 for a family of four). It establishes a sliding scale to determine the subsidy families would receive. In addition, the bill phases-in a $695 per household, per year penalty for individuals and families that fail to obtain mandated health insurance coverage.
The measure also increases funding for community health centers to $1 billion in FY2011, $1.2 billion in FY2012, $1.5 billion in FY2013, $2.2 billion in FY2014, and $3.6 billion in FY2015; P.L. 111-148 provided a total of $7 billion from FY2011 through FY2015.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act also contains increased funding for the Pell Grant program, augmenting the maximum student award from $5,500 in 2010 to $5,975 in 2017. The legislation also changes funding for the Pell Grant program from discretionary to mandatory and provides $13.5 billion in mandatory funding for program.
