House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) this week received a list from a working group, led by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Terri Sewell (D-AL), that laid out Democratic priorities on healthcare if Democrats flip the House in November.
Democrats have campaigned on healthcare throughout the cycle but have, for the most part, offered little detail on what their agenda might look like.
But the new list, reported by Punchbowl, encompasses a wide range of ideas across the Democratic ideological spectrum and offers a clue into the issues Democrats could pursue in January.
“The working groups on affordability have made a lot of progress in diving deep into what kind of legislative efforts we can put forward in five different areas: housing, healthcare, gas and utilities, groceries and goods, and caregiving,” Jeffries told reporters Thursday morning. “Those are five areas where we can expect to see decisive action.”
But Jeffries admitted his caucus has yet to agree on specific policy proposals.
“But in terms of when we actually get to consensus on the legislative proposals, you know that’s a work in progress,” he added.
The healthcare working group reflects the entire spectrum of the Democratic Party, reflected by the progressive Ocasio-Cortez and more centrist Sewell leading the group.
While Democrats hope to flip the House to advance some of these priorities, unless they take veto-proof majorities in both chambers, much of the agenda faces an uphill climb with President Donald Trump in the White House until January 2029.
Here are some of the healthcare priorities Democrats have weighed if they win the House in 47 days.
Restore enhanced Obamacare tax credits
Democrats aimed to extend the Obamacare subsidies last year and early this year, but hit a stonewall in the Republican-controlled Senate. Jeffries passed a bill, with the help of a handful of Republicans, that would have extended the subsidies, which expired on Dec. 31 of last year, for three years.
“The ending of the ACA subsidies have devastated Coloradans,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) told the Washington Examiner.
Democrats went as far as to use their leverage in a government funding fight that ultimately led to a shutdown in an effort to extend the Obamacare tax credits last year, but were unsuccessful. Their push during the funding fight indicated how hard they are expected to push for this extension if they gain the majority.
Undo Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Democrats have spent over a year campaigning against the changes to Medicaid in Trump’s tax bill. The GOP bill, passed last July, beefed up Medicaid work requirements for single, able-bodied adults. Democrats labeled the legislation the “Big, Ugly Law” and have held hundreds of events across the country over the last year to rail against the bill.
“These cuts were enacted to provide massive tax breaks to billionaire MAGA Republican donors, and that’s why when we’re on the other side of the Nov. 3 general election, one of the first things we will endeavor to undertake is to reverse these painful Medicaid cuts,” Jeffries said earlier this year.
“Hands off Medicaid, hands off Medicare, hands off the Affordable Care Act, and hands off the healthcare of the American people,” Jeffries added.
This would likely be one of the first moves a Democrat-controlled House makes in the new Congress.
‘Medicare for all’
The working group reportedly also included the controversial policy stance of “Medicare for all” in the list of policy ideas, something that has long been a priority for progressive and socialist candidates.
“There’s a large diversity of opinions in the caucus, so a lot of what we do is just compile all the different proposals among the caucus,” Ocasio-Cortez told Punchbowl. “Medicare for all is of course included.”
While Jeffries previously supported Medicare for All legislation, he recently walked back his opinion on Meet the Press, saying, “No, as you indicated, I haven’t cosponsored the Medicare for All legislation that has been introduced over the last several years.”
JEFFRIES HAS NOT ‘RULED ANYTHING OUT’ ON IMPEACHING TRUMP IF DEMOCRATS WIN
Jeffries’s shift highlights the complexity the issue holds within the House Democratic caucus, and how it could be a splitting issue for the party.
The issue was divisive in Democratic primaries in both competitive and safe seats during this cycle. While more centrist Democrats leaned toward more modest healthcare priorities, progressives, such as Abdul el Sayed in Michigan, has made “Medicare for all” a central tenet of his campaign.