WASHINGTON, D.C. — In exchange for their support to end the 43-day government shutdown, Republicans guaranteed a handful of Senate Democrats a vote during the month of December to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Today, Senate Democrats unveiled their bill to do just that – but many Republicans say it’s not practical.
There are many competing proposals and ideas — but with these subsidies about to expire, and the holiday break right around the corner, there’s a very short window to strike a deal.
“I’m not sure whether it’ll happen here in the next couple of weeks or in the first, you know, first couple of weeks of the new year. But it’s got to happen soon,” said Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa. “Health care prices have been going up like crazy.”
Enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that helped bring down health care costs during COVID are set to expire in less than a month. If the subsidies lapse, premiums for 2026 are expected to climb sharply for many individuals.
“Costs are going to increase on everyday Americans by a thousand or $2,000 per month,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Congress is split on a path forward with multiple, competing proposals to bring down costs. Today, Senate Democrats unveiled their plan.
“Today I’m announcing that Senate Democrats will introduce legislation for a three-year clean extension of the current ACA tax credits. This bill, a clean year 3 extension of the ACA tax credits that Democrats will bring to bring to the floor for a vote on Thursday. And every single Democrat will support it, every single Democrat. That means Republicans have only one week to decide where they stand,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The Senate Democrats’ plan appears to be a non-starter for Republicans, who say Obamacare and the enhanced tax credits need reform.
“There’s no way, in my opinion, we should move forward on those existing subsidies as they are without reforming them. I do think we need to do something on the subsidies. My suggestion would be some version of capping the income in which you’re eligible for the subsidies so we’re really helping working families, people that are really struggling,” said Sen. McCormick.
“COVID’s over so why are we still wanting to maintain those same subsidies? We’ve got to stop subsidizing everybody on every single thing we do, because if it’s a government subsidy, it’s taxpayer funded,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.
“Obamacare failed. It was supposed to provide greater access, better quality and cheaper health care. It’s done none of those things,” said Sen. McCormick. “So we got some work to do. There’s legislation that we’re considering in the Senate to give a bridge to people on these health care subsidies. We’ll see what comes out of that,” he added. “We got to do a lot to eliminate the fraud in the system.”
Some Republicans have different proposals, such as linking the funds to health savings accounts. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 35 House lawmakers unveiled a plan to scale back and extend the subsidies for two years. But that too faces long odds in the GOP-led House.
“The current system is not working to deliver health care at reasonable prices for everyday Americans. Democrats’ push to maintain these high prices by giving more money to insurance companies is not a real solution for President Trump. The president has instead focused on lowering prescription drug costs by hammering out deals with pharmaceutical companies, as well as taking on waste, fraud and abuse in the system to deliver results for patients, and will continue to deliver policy solutions that lower costs in the healthcare market for the American people,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai in a statement.
