House Health Care Battle Stirs Up a Stink on Both Sides

No Obamacare subsidy extensions – better luck next year.

The House passed a package of health care polices on Wednesday, December 17, that has Democrats – and even some Republicans – in a tizzy. The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act includes policies like cost-sharing reductions and an expansion of association health plans. What it clearly does not do, however, is in any way expand the COVID-era Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire on December 31.

House Democrats – joined by four of their GOP counterparts – then tried to force a vote on a straight three-year extension of the tax credits. Without House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) support, however, it simply won’t happen this year. So the subsidies will expire, perhaps never to return, and the blame game begins.

Plenty of Health Care Action, Just No Obamacare

When the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act passed the House on Wednesday, it was along party lines, save for one representative. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, voted along with all the Democrats against the bill. Democrats, of course, wanted an extension of the extra – or “enhanced,” as the lawmakers called them – tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that were granted during the COVID pandemic, a national emergency and health crisis. But the pandemic has been officially over since May 11, 2023. Still, more than two years later, the statists of the left declare such subsidies entitlements, proving Ronald Reagan’s point that “a government program is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.”

Rep. Massie, on the other hand, had other reasons for opposing what he called a “placebo” bill. “Despite being sold as ‘market-based reform’ and codifying Association Health Plans, it keeps core Obamacare rules intact and prevents true price competition,” he said in a Facebook post Wednesday night.

The bill will expand association health plans, and it should help lower drug costs and premiums for some ACA enrollees. It will not, however, renew any of the extra tax credits.

Backlash From Both Sides

Some moderate Republicans in the House did try to push back, but when it became clear the bill would pass as is, they went along. Still, four of them – Mike Lawler of New York and three Pennsylvanians, Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, and Rob Bresnahan – signed on to the discharge petition launched by House minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). According to House rules, however, petitioners can’t force a vote on it until next month unless Speaker Johnson agrees to call it up early – and he did not.

Many Republican senators aren’t happy about Johnson’s hard line on the issue, either – nor are they particularly pleased with the subsequent discharge petition. It’s precisely what they just defeated in their own chamber. And should it pass the House next month, as seems likely thanks to the moderate Republican rebellion, it’ll be right back in the Senate at a time when much of the government’s funding is set to expire.

Congress is done for the year, as far as legislation goes. Both chambers will meet briefly on Friday afternoon for pro forma sessions, but no bills are likely to be moved. House Speaker Mike Johnson, in any case, has made it clear he won’t hold a vote on the discharge petition to extend the Obamacare credits until next month, and the House’s health care bill isn’t much more likely to pass the Senate. So, come December 31, the ACA subsidies will expire, and most premiums will jump.

Perhaps as many as 22 million marketplace enrollees did (open enrollment began November 1) or will notice their premiums increase significantly, according to health care organization KFF. And they’ll need someone to be angry at. Enter the politicians and special interest groups on both sides of the political spectrum. In a furious push that includes advertising, polls, public statements, and letter-writing campaigns from professional advocates, the political right and left are doing their best to convince the American public the other side is to blame – a battle of narratives that will almost certainly find itself at the center of the 2026 midterm elections.