S 3385 — Congress 119
Lower Health Care Costs Act
Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3385
Congress.gov subjects: Health care costs and insurance; Health care coverage and access; Income tax credits; Inflation and prices; Tax administration and collection, taxpayers; Taxation
Issues impacted: Taxes & Government Spending (taxonomy, high), Healthcare (taxonomy, high), Inflation & Cost of Living (taxonomy, high)
Official bill text (stored)
Plain-text extraction from Congress.gov text formats. Canonical source remains the official URL above. Full text is prioritized for bills with roll-call votes.
119 S3385 PCS: Lower Health Care Costs Act U.S. Senate 2025-12-08 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. II Calendar No. 284 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3385 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 8 (legislative day, December 4), 2025 Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read the first time December 8. 2025 Read the second time and placed on the calendar A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the enhancement of the health care premium tax credit. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Lower Health Care Costs Act . 2. Extension of enhancement of health care premium tax credit (a) Extension of rules to increase premium assistance amounts Clause (iii) of section 36B(b)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— (1) in the heading, by striking through 2025 and inserting through 2028 , and (2) in the matter preceding subclause (I), by striking before January 1, 2026 and inserting before January 1, 2029 . (b) Extension of rule to allow credit to taxpayers whose household income exceeds 400 percent of poverty line Subparagraph (E) of section 36B(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— (1) in the heading, by striking through 2025 and inserting through 2028 , and (2) by striking before January 1, 2026 and inserting before January 1, 2029 . (c) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. December 8. 2025 Read the second time and placed on the calendar
Plain-English summary
Confidence: high · Complexity: simple · Model: grok-4.5
This bill keeps a bigger tax break for health insurance going a few more years.
Right now, the extra-large premium tax credit for ACA marketplace plans is set to shrink after 2025. That boost also lets people earning over 400% of the federal poverty line still get help. This bill simply moves the end date from early 2026 to early 2029, so the richer credit rules would last through 2028. It kicks in for tax years that start after December 31, 2025.
Who’d feel it? Folks who buy coverage on the Health Insurance Marketplace and use that premium tax credit. With the enhancement still in place, their federal help with monthly premiums stays larger for three more years. If it ends on schedule, a lot of them would see higher net costs starting in 2026.
That’s the whole bill—short and focused on this one extension.
Related issues
How a vote maps to positions
Impartial mapping: which issue position a Yea vs Nay advances. When a bill has multiple floor votes, each roll can have its own mapping. Bill-level entries (no roll listed) apply as a default when a roll has no specific map. Used for legislator alignment.
All rolls (bill default)
| Issue | Yea advances | Nay advances | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare | Coverage expansion and public programs | Status quo / reject this change | Yea extends enhanced ACA premium tax credits and eligibility above 400% FPL; Nay prefers letting those temporary expansions expire. |
| Taxes & Government Spending | Targeted credits and industrial policy | Lower taxes and constrain spending growth | Yea continues a large income-tax credit for health premiums; Nay opposes extending that revenue cost and prefers tighter fiscal restraint. |
| Inflation & Cost of Living | Direct household cost relief | Macro restraint (fiscal/monetary framing) | Yea keeps larger premium subsidies that lower household insurance costs; Nay rejects extending that cost relief past 2025. |