H.R. 4849: Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act of 2025

H.R. 4849 does two things. Section 3 rewrites who qualifies for the premium tax credit and how much they get. Section 2 repeals the health subtitle of the 2025 reconciliation law, Public Law 119–21.

On the credit: the bill strikes the rule that ends eligibility once household income passes 400% of the federal poverty line. No matter how much you earn, your share of a benchmark marketplace premium would be capped at a fixed percentage of income, and a tax credit would pay the difference. The official bill summary describes the new percentage table as the same lower one used from 2021 through 2025, without the inflation adjustment that would otherwise raise it each year.

The cutoff matters because it is all-or-nothing. In 2025 the line sits at roughly $62,600 for one person and $128,600 for a family of four. At $128,599 a family qualifies for help. At $128,601 it qualifies for none.

On the repeal: the bill strikes Subtitle B of title VII of the 2025 law and directs that every statute and regulation it touched be read as if the subtitle never existed. According to the Congressional Research Service summary, that reverses the law's Medicaid eligibility and verification requirements, its shorter window for retroactive Medicaid coverage, and its new verification rules for the premium tax credit.

The credit changes apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, so 2026 is the first coverage year affected.