10 Reasons GOP Shouldn’t Extend Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies

Congress returns to Washington this week, and with apologies to Yogi Berra, it’s déjà vu all over again. After spending much of the latter months of 2025 debating Democrat proposals to extend enhanced Covid-era Obamacare subsidies, the Republican-controlled Congress will spend the opening weeks of 2026 … debating Democrat proposals to extend enhanced Covid-era Obamacare subsidies.

Unsound Political Strategy

If this makes little sense to you, you’re not alone. But the House of Representatives faces an inevitable vote on an enhanced subsidy extension because, right before Christmas, four renegade Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York — signed a discharge petition effectively granting control of the House floor to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and the rest of the Democrats.

The gambit seems inexplicable on a number of levels. It will (apparently) force a vote on a bill that the Senate has already rejected. And given that Fitzpatrick voted against the House Republican “repeal-and-replace” bill in May 2017, yet still got attacked by Democrats in the 2018 campaign over health care, the moderates’ abject surrender won’t mean they can escape Democrats’ political scare tactics this fall. But it will mean the Republican-controlled House will have to spend more time and energy debating Democrat priorities.

Worse Policy

Due to the procedural machinations associated with the discharge petition maneuver, it remains unclear exactly what piece of legislation the House will vote on. But, assuming the bill in question echoes the three-year enhanced subsidy extension that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put forward for a vote in that body last month, representatives will have at least 10 reasons not to vote for this particular proposal:

1. No Effect on Gross Premiums in 2026: In its cost estimate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) admitted that the bill would have no effect on gross premiums for the current plan year “because those premiums have already been set.”

2. Expands and Entrenches Obamacare: The bill would, for the second time, extend Covid-era enhanced subsidies that were designed to be temporary, amounting to a major entitlement expansion on the installment plan.

3. Continues and Perpetuates Fraud: The bill contains no reforms to address the fraud that CBO, the Government Accountability Office, and other independent estimates have said plagues insurance Exchanges.

4. Funds Plans Covering Services Americans Find Morally Objectionable: Pro-life groups have consistently noted that Obamacare subsidizes plans that cover abortion. In recent months, Maryland has used Obamacare dollars to fund abortion tourism for out-of-state residents and encouraged other blue states to follow suit. Moreover, Obamacare subsidies have also been used to fund transgender procedures that many Americans find objectionable and political indoctrination that violates the First Amendment.

5. Increases the Federal Deficit: With the federal government over $38 trillion in debt, many would question the wisdom of incurring another $88 billion in deficit spending to subsidize health insurance companies.

6. Undermines Employer-Provided Health Coverage: CBO noted that under the bill, 2.1 million fewer Americans would have employer-sponsored coverage. Expanding and entrenching Obamacare will only encourage more businesses to stop offering insurance and dump their workers onto the Exchanges. 

7. Increases Insurer Profits: The bill directs $88 billion in taxpayer funds to insurance companies. Because Obamacare allows them to keep one-fifth of premium dollars for profit and administrative expenses, the bill could see insurance companies receiving up to $17.6 billion in added profit — all at taxpayer expense.

8. “Free” Health Coverage: The bill would extend the zero-dollar premiums for some enrollees that are anything but “free” for taxpayers. These plans have been a major source of fraud and encourage individuals to retain their Exchange plan, even if they have other sources of insurance coverage.

9. Welfare for the Wealthy: The bill would again lift the income cap on eligibility that Obamacare placed on its subsidy regime, allowing households with incomes in excess of $500,000 to qualify for “low-income” insurance subsidies in some instances.

10. Raises, Rather than Lowers, Underlying Health Costs: Not only does the bill not contain any reforms to lower the actual cost of health care, but Obamacare’s subsidy mechanism, under which every additional premium dollar is subsidized by federal taxpayers, only encourages health insurers to raise premiums.

I could go on (and on and on), but I won’t. Here’s hoping that, regardless of what happens with the upcoming vote in the House, Republicans stop playing into Democrats’ hands and start turning their attention toward reducing the underlying cost of health care, rather than throwing good taxpayer money over bad at a failing Obamacare program.