(File Photo of Congressman Chris Deluzio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington, D.C.) According to a release from Congressman Chris Deluzio’s office in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Deluzio (PA-17) voted yesterday to lower healthcare costs by extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare tax credits for three more years. If this is passed into law, this will fend off a spike in healthcare costs for around 24,000 constituents in the 17th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday with 230 votes in support and 196 votes against and it now heads to the Senate. 17 Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the measure and if it does not pass into law, Pennie estimates that average monthly premium costs will increase 74% in Beaver County and 75% in Allegheny County, which translates to a $137 and $125 monthly increase per member, respectively. Congressman Deluzio released the following statement after the vote:

“Life is already too expensive. Now my hardworking constituents in Western Pennsylvania are staring down budget-crushing increases in their health insurance premiums—all because D.C. Republicans let cost-saving tax credits expire at the end of December. 

“Facing these massive premium increases, it’s no surprise that people are deciding to drop their healthcare coverage and risk bankruptcy from an unlucky illness or a hospital stay. 

“We should have extended the tax credits before they expired, but D.C. Republicans refused to join guys like me who were trying to stop healthcare costs from exploding.  

“Today, seventeen House Republicans joined me and every single House Democrats to vote to extend these cost-saving tax credits. I’m glad they finally did the right thing. 

“Now, the Senate needs to do their job and stop Americans from getting hammered by rising healthcare costs. We need to fix this now.”