Bill to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies dies in Senate

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

As expected, lawmakers failed to pass either of the competing partisan health care bills in the Senate on Thursday.

The result all but ensures that the enhanced premium tax credits through legislation known as Obamacare will revert to prepandemic levels in 2026.

No Democrats supported the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act authored by Republicans. Among other reforms, the proposal would have replaced the enhanced premium tax credits with Health Savings Account contributions and funded cost-sharing reduction payments.

Four Republicans – Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Arkansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine – also voted for Democrats’ Lower Health Care Costs Act, a three-year extension of the enhanced premium tax credits.

Both sides are now blaming each other for the premium hikes that millions of Americans will face in 2026.

“Senate Republicans just blocked our bill to stop health care premiums from skyrocketing,” Senate Appropriations Vice Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote on social media. “This vote was Republicans’ last chance to do something before costs jump on January 1 – once again, they refused. This is health care sabotage and we will hold Republicans accountable.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Democrats’ bill would have raised the deficit by $83 billion. Most Republicans opposed the legislation due to both the price tag and because it would merely “subsidize the broken system” – in the words of House Speaker Mike Johnson – that is riddled with fraud.

“Taxpayer-funded premium subsidies go directly to insurance companies and prop up proven examples of waste, fraud and abuse,” Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., wrote on social media on social media. “Yet Democrats are insisting on no reforms while throwing more money at the failing system they created, without a single Republican vote.”

A recent bombshell Government Accountability Office report uncovered systemic fraud risk and confirmed fraud in the enhanced subsidies. More than 90% of office’s fake applicants received coverage, with GAO noting that “agents and brokers have a financial incentive to maximize enrollments” under the current tax credit system.

“I’ve never seen a party so committed to generating profits for insurance companies as what I’m seeing right now with the Democrats,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a cosponsor of the Republicans’ bill. “The status quo doesn’t work.”