The Build Back Better plan, President Biden’s signature piece of legislation, passed out of the House today and includes several provisions that could impact the health care world.
Washington State Rep. Pramila Jayapal issued a press release earlier today outlining some of those items, which includes funding for universal preschool, paid family and medical leave, and home and community based care. The full list from the press release is available below:
The Build Back Better Act includes:
Universal Preschool for All 3-Year Olds and 4-Year Olds: $400 billion for childcare and universal preschool that expands access to free, high-quality preschool for more than six million children.
Affordable, High-Quality Childcare: Limits childcare costs to no more than 7% of income for most families. This will expand access to around 20 million children.
Paid Family and Medical Leave: $194 billion to provide four weeks of paid family and medical leave to people across America for the very first time.
Home and Community Based Care: $150 billion for affordable, high-quality care for hundreds of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities. This will allow people to stay in their homes and communities while improving working conditions for home care workers so they make $15 an hour.
Historic Climate Action: $555 billion for aggressively combating the worsening climate crisis. This includes clean energy tax credits, investments in climate resilience to address extreme weather and establish a Civilian Climate Corps, investments and incentives for clean energy technology, and clean energy procurements to provide incentives for the government to purchase next generation technologies.
Health Care, Medicare Expansion, and Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs: $165 billion for making health care more affordable and accessible for millions of people. This includes allowing Medicare to cover hearing benefits for the very first time and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
Affordable Housing: $150 billion for building, preserving, and improving more than one million affordable rental and single-family homes including public housing.
Extended Child Tax Credit: $200 billion for extending the highly-successful Child Tax Credit and extending the current expanded Earn Income Tax Credit for childless workers. This extends the Child Tax Credit’s monthly payments for more than 35 million households earning up to $150,000. It also makes the refundability of the Child Tax Credit permanent.
Humane Immigration Reform: $100 billion for humanely reforming the immigration system while protecting Dreamers, TPS recipients, and essential workers and easing the immigration backlog.
Leveling the Playing Field By Making Corporations and the Ultra-Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share: While not raising taxes on small businesses and anyone making less than $400,000, the legislation includes a 15 percent Corporate Minimum Tax on large corporations and a one percent surcharge on Corporate Stock Buybacks. It also invests in IRS enforcement and makes the highest income Americans to pay their fair share.
Higher Education and Workforce Development: $40 billion for expanding access to higher education and workforce development. This includes raising the maximum Pell grant, making DACA, TPS, and DED recipients eligible for Pell grants, providing support to HBCUs, HSIs, MSIs, and TCUs, and investing in workforce development.
The bill will now move to the Senate.