Senator Hawley to the Left of WaPo on Obamacare Subsidies

Today, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who campaigned on repealing Obamacare, voted in support of Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) 3-year extension of pandemic-era expanded Obamacare subsidies.

In 2018, The Hill reported on Sen. Hawley’s promise to repeal Obamacare, ““Listen, Republicans have pledged for years to repeal and replace Obamacare,” he added, saying he wants to do what Republicans have long pledged to do.”

In addition to having no protections against funds being used for abortion – a major point of contention in this debate – Schumer’s extension made no changes to address the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the program.

Even the Washington Post editorial board, no ally to the right, says the subsidies are out of control. The Washington Post writes that it’s obvious that insurers are “taking advantage of a poorly designed system.” With none of the reforms necessary to address the rampant fraud and abuse, Senator Schumer’s extension “should be a nonstarter.”

In the American Rescue Plan (ARP), President Biden and congressional Democrats expanded Obamacare subsidies by increasing benefits for households at every income level and expanding them to households earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). These pandemic-era expanded subsidies were then extended through 2025 in the Inflation Reduction Act. The expanded version of the premium tax credit (PTC) – the enhanced premium tax credit – expires at the end of the year, not the PTC established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Sen. Hawley joined three other Republicans voting in favor of the extension: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

Any Republican voting to expand Obamacare is abandoning their base of supporters. To be clear, we are only having this debate because Obamacare has failed in every way imaginable. There is no reason Republicans should help bail out Obamacare’s failures.

Further, Democrats will never give a Republican who caves credit for doing so – it will always be framed as a win for the Left. Longtime GOP voters, however, would have every reason to lose faith in a member who betrays something as foundational as not taking steps toward a socialist healthcare system.

For eight years, Republicans ran (hardcore) on repealing Obamacare. During that time, the party held historically high majorities.

Up until today, no Republican in Congress voted for either Obamacare or the expanded Obamacare subsidies.

Extending the pandemic-era expanded Obamacare subsidies would put our country further in debt by nearly $450 billion over 10 years. Certainly, if extended, these subsidies would never go away. The cost of premium tax credits was already colossal before the COVID-19 expansion – costing taxpayers $1 trillion over 10 years. It is unacceptable for a “temporary” expansion to raise that cost by roughly 45 percent.

Extension would be a boon to insurance companies. Despite being called “tax credits,” the ACA subsidies are checks that are delivered straight to insurance companies, not patients. Any extension of these enhanced subsidies will drive health care costs up in the future, as they encourage insurers to continue raise their premiums at rapid rates.

A CBO report confirmed that premiums for exchange plans, under the enhanced credits, are rising more quickly than originally anticipated. When the government subsidizes the cost of anything, sellers raise their prices. The government will pay for it, after all. 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.

Extension would further encourage rampant fraud. Just last week we discovered massive improper use of SSNs to receive Obamacare subsidies, 58,000 dead people receiving subsidies, and the fact that every fake identity created by GAO received subsidized ACA coverage.

The scope of the problem at hand has been recklessly exaggerated. According to insurers themselves in preliminary 2026 benchmark rate filings, only 4 percent of the 20 percent average premium increase next year is attributable to the expiration of pandemic-era expanded Obamacare subsidies.

About 24 million people are enrolled in the Obamacare marketplace. Of those, roughly 21.8 million people receive PTCs. Thus, only around 6 percent of the U.S. population may find themselves directly affected by the expiration of these subsidies.

The PTC will still be 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.  

Senator Hawley’s betrayal of his stated principles is disappointing. Lawmakers who consider themselves fiscal hawks and defenders of the free market should reject any future votes to expand Obamacare.