Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act

This section would let the Act be referred to as the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act.

This section would repeal Subtitle B of title VII of the law titled "An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14" (Public Law 119-21), which the bill's own title describes as the health subtitle of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It would also require that any law or regulation referred to in that subtitle be applied as if that subtitle, and the amendments it made, had never been enacted, so the rules that were in place before that subtitle took effect would apply again.

This section would change the health insurance premium tax credit under section 36B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. First, it would remove the rule that limited the credit to households with income of not more than 400 percent of the federal poverty line, so households with income above that level could still qualify for the credit if they meet the law's other requirements. Second, it would replace the formula that sets the percentage of income a household is expected to pay toward premiums with a new sliding scale based on household income as a percentage of the federal poverty line: 0 percent for income up to 150 percent of the poverty line; rising in a straight line from 0 percent to 2.0 percent for income from 150 up to 200 percent of the poverty line; from 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent for income from 200 up to 250 percent; from 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent for income from 250 up to 300 percent; from 6.0 percent to 8.5 percent for income from 300 up to 400 percent; and a flat 8.5 percent for income at 400 percent of the poverty line and higher. Third, the section would make conforming changes by striking a subparagraph of section 36B(c)(1), a clause of section 36B(c)(2)(C), and a subparagraph of section 36B(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, all described as relating to the affordability of coverage; the bill text does not include the wording of those provisions, so this rendering cannot state what they required before being struck or the full practical effect of removing them.