As shutdown ends, Baldwin willing to 'play hardball' on healthcare tax credits while Tiffany says ACA 'clearly not working'

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- With the House of Representatives set to vote Wednesday night, Nov. 12, on a short-term spending plan that would end the longest federal government shutdown in history, two of Wisconsin's voices in Congress indicated the fight over how to control healthcare costs might just be getting started.

Through the 43-day stalemate, most Democrats wanted to hold out for a guaranteed extension of pandemic-era tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

Senator Tammy Baldwin told reporters at a Milwaukee event Wednesday she disagreed with the eight Senate Democrats who agreed to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on extending the subsidies, which are set to expire at the of this year. Baldwin said the vote would be merely "symbolic" and instead wanted an extension baked into the spending bill.

"Even if we're successful in the Senate, there is no guarantee that the House of Representatives will take up the measure we send them," Baldwin said.

Baldwin sidestepped questions about whether Democrats could achieve their goals on healthcare with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the head of their caucus.

When asked what leverage they have if the House doesn't vote on the extending the credits, Baldwin said Democrats could "play hardball" when the new spending plan is set to end on January 30.

"In the short run, I want to work with my Republican colleagues," she said. "See what we can do to actually pass a tax credit extension through the Senate in the coming weeks."

In Wisconsin, a little more than 270,000 people are receiving some form of the ACA tax credits. According to figures shared by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, a 60-year-old in Milwaukee making $63,000 a year would have to pay $2,100 more per month for an ACA Silver Plan. 

If the House does vote on extending the tax credits, GOP Congressman Tom Tiffany won't be supporting it. Tiffany, who's running for governor, was in Milwaukee to accept the endorsement from the city's police union.

"Look at the ACA at this point. It's clearly not working," Tiffany said. "Look at the massive subsidies that are going almost exclusively to health insurance companies at this point."

Tiffany said rather than make the healthcare debate about whether the tax credits should continue, Republicans should consider the ACA as a whole. A CBS 58 reporter asked why Republicans don't already have a plan to replace the ACA, since they've slammed the law for the nearly 16 years it's been in place.

"That's a great question," Tiffany said. "Unfortunately, it has not been done, but no time like the present, right?"

Nancy Peske, a freelance editor from Milwaukee, said at the Baldwin event the ACA is working for her in ways health insurance previously did not. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer, Peske, 63, said the tax credits were saving her a substantial amount of money.

"I cannot afford $1,165 more a month," she said. "And I cannot afford to have my cancer come back; it was Stage 3."

Despite their differences, Baldwin and Tiffany did strike similar chords on the lack of transparency in healthcare. However, they're far apart when it comes to finding ways to make medical decisions more affordable and easier to understand.

"What else do we buy in our lives," Tiffany said. "That we don't know what the cost is, like healthcare?"