An empty bed in a room at the emergency department at a hospital in San Diego.
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he will not support legislation to extend expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies even as senators are preparing to tee up a vote on the issue, complicating his party’s efforts to address health care costs.
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Trump said the only health-care plan he would “SUPPORT OR APPROVE” would be “SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE” instead of to insurance companies, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. He went on to urge lawmakers to “not waste your time and energy on anything else,” casting his proposal as “the only way to have great Healthcare in America.”
The president’s comments come as Senate Republicans prepare to hold a vote on extending Obamacare tax credits, which are slated to expire at the end of this year. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to force Republicans to extend Obamacare tax credits during a weekslong government shutdown but were only able to secure a pledge from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, to hold a vote on extending the tax credits.
With millions of Americans facing a potential hike in their premiums and with concerns about affordability front and center among the electorate, Democrats are seizing on the issue. Republicans now face the challenging prospect of either bucking the president and extending subsidies or finding another solution to the issue of health-care costs, an issue that has long vexed lawmakers.
Some 24 million people on Affordable Care Act insurance face health care premiums soaring an average of 114%. Millions more are expected to lose Medicaid when the cuts in Trump’s “big beautiful bill” kick in just after the midterm elections.
A KFF Health Tracking poll published Nov. 6 showed that 74% of those surveyed want the subsidies extended, with 94% of Democrats and 76% of independent voters in favor, along with 50% of Republicans. And a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that the closest existing policy to Trump’s idea — health savings accounts — do not improve health care affordability and wouldn’t offset the loss of coverage if Congress fails to extend the subsidies.
Rising premiums offer to play into Democrats’ narrative that Trump’s policies are exacerbating a cost crunch for American households. Off-year state and local elections earlier this month saw a number of Republican candidates lose races in which affordability concerns played prominently.
“Republicans created this health care crisis, and they continue to try to rip affordable health care away from the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said. “They are who they are, and the American people know it, and they’re going to pay the price.”
Trump has long sought to eliminate Obamacare — dating back to his first term in the White House. His own replacement plan, however, faces numerous obstacles. Insurance is usually purchased by groups of people, allowing prices to be negotiated and risks shared. Payments from healthy people also subsidize care for those who are ill.
–With assistance from Erik Wasson.
(Updates to add KFF poll, Jeffries remarks in paragraphs 6, 8.)
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