Democrats spent much of 2025 reminding the House Republican majority of one thing: Without congressional action, tens of millions of American consumers would lose their existing ACA subsidies and face dramatic spikes in their health care coverage.
But as the year comes to an end, Speaker Mike Johnson and his GOP leadership team have decided not to act. Last week, House Republicans unveiled what they described as a “plan” to address rising costs, which was actually more of a hodgepodge of loosely connected conservative ideas than a serious, cohesive policy proposal.
On Wednesday afternoon, the chamber advanced the package on a 216-211 vote. (Every House Democrat opposed the proposal, and they were joined by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.) If Senate GOP leaders even bother to take up the legislation, which is by no means a certainty, it is very likely to be discarded.
With House members heading home until the new year, the developments practically guarantee that Republicans will allow the current insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to expire at midnight on Dec. 31. Though precise tallies vary, independent analyses show that the change will punish between 22 million and 24 million American consumers.
To hear the House speaker tell it, that’s just not that many people.
During a Wednesday morning appearance on CNBC, the Louisiana Republican complained that Democrats are pushing a “false narrative” that the expiring benefit “affects everybody.” The GOP leader added, “It affects 7% of Americans.”
When a CNBC host reminded the speaker that they were talking about 24 million American consumers, Johnson replied that his party’s plan, such as it is, would reduce premiums. (That’s largely true, although it would make coverage cheaper by making insurance much worse.)
Soon after, at a Capitol Hill press conference, Congress’ top Republican read from a prepared text and said, “The Democrats’ subsidy proposal would only lower premiums for a small subset of people. Now, think of this: just 7% of America case would benefit.” Note, Johnson isn’t denying the accuracy of the assessment. Rather, the speaker wants to recontextualize the data: Sure, between 22 million and 24 million health care consumers will soon struggle to afford coverage, and sure, that includes many small business owners, but why make a fuss? It’s a big country, with 342 million people, and 24 million is “just” 7% of 342 million. Six days ago, a reporter asked Donald Trump, “At the end of this year, those extended Obamacare subsidies expire. What’s your message to those 24 million Americans who will see their insurance premiums go up?” The president replied, “Don’t make it sound so bad.” Nearly a week later, it appears Trump isn’t the only Republican leader expressing indifference to the impending disaster.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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