Last month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) discharge petition, with the stated goal of reinstating the COVID-era, enhanced Obamacare subsidies, reached the requisite 218 signatures from House members.
First, Congress will vote on a Democrat motion to discharge H.Res. 780, which provides for consideration of H.R. 1834, a shell bill. If passed, the rule itself and, then, H.R. 1834 itself will be voted on. This bill will be a three-year reinstatement of the now-expired, enhanced ACA subsidies with no additional reforms.
The enhanced subsidies were always supposed to be temporary. This three-year expansion – costing taxpayers over $100 billion – not only adds to the national debt, but funnels federal dollars directly to insurance companies rather than patients, who now have little incentive to control costs. Worse, the expanded subsidies have fueled rampant fraud and shifted the burden of high-income earners’ premiums onto taxpayers.
Lawmakers must reject this discharge petition and any effort to bail out Obamacare by reinstating these disastrous subsidies.
A “clean” expansion of now-expired COVID-era, enhanced Obamacare subsidies is especially egregious, as it doesn’t even take the most basic steps to fight fraud.
Lax verification and $0 monthly premium plans during the Biden expansion enabled millions to qualify improperly. The Paragon Health Institute estimated that 6.4 million Americans are improperly enrolled in Obamacare exchanges, a number that surged by more than one-quarter from 2024 to 2025. This level of improper enrollment, which is likely an underestimation, will cost taxpayers up to $27 billion this year.
Last month, the GAO released a report uncovering massive improper use of SSNs to receive Obamacare subsidies and 58,000 dead people receiving subsidies. Shockingly, every fake identity created by GAO received subsidized ACA coverage.
In light of the fraud scheme uncovered in Minnesota and the public’s justified outrage, it is unconscionable for lawmakers to fail to take even the most basic steps to prevent fraud in another program plagued by abuse.
While this reaction is expected from the Left, the alarmist response from a few “moderate” Republicans to the expiration of the subsidies is unfounded. Only 6 percent of the U.S. population received these enhanced premium tax subsidies. Further, according to insurers themselves in preliminary 2026 benchmark rate filings, only 4 percent of the 20 percent average premium increase this year is attributable to the expiration of expanded Obamacare subsidies. The PTC is still intact for those making under 400 percent of the FPL: individuals making under $62,600 annually ($5,216 a month) or, for example, a household of four making under $128,600 annually ($10,716 a month). Notably, the standards for enrollment were quite generous to begin with.
Most concerning, reinstating these subsidies will increase healthcare costs in the long run.
When the government subsidizes the cost of anything, sellers inevitably raise their prices. The government will pay for it, after all. As a result, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on this expansion are going straight to insurers, not to patients.
These expanded subsidies have already led to higher healthcare costs and premiums for American consumers. Because the subsidies limit the amount that households pay for a benchmark exchange plan to a percentage of their income and the rest is paid by the government, insurers lack any incentive to lower premiums or costs. A 2022 CBO report confirmed that premiums for exchange plans are rising more quickly than originally anticipated.
While some Americans may be concerned about premiums going up in the short term, removing the incentive for insurers to continue raising their prices will save patients money in the long run.
Americans for Tax Reform urges lawmakers to reject the Democrats’ discharge petition and all efforts to expand Obamacare subsidies. Leaving these subsidies expired will lower costs to taxpayers, disincentive premium inflation, slash rampant fraud, and finally return to pre-COVID policy.
