Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that he will not allow a vote to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the month, solidifying his party’s decision to let tens of millions of Americans face massive premium increases in the new year.

Speaking to reporters, Johnson acknowledged that some swing-district Republicans pushed him for a vote on the ACA subsidies as people across the country face sticker shock, with premiums more than doubling on average.

The ACA open enrollment period ended Monday for those with coverage starting start January 1, 2026.

“With no extension of enhanced tax credits, ACA enrollees are going to start the year with premium payments increasing by an average of 114%, or over $1,000 a year per person,” Larry Levitt, KFF’s executive vice president for health policy, noted Tuesday. “Some will find a way to pay it, some have switched to higher deductibles, and some have dropped coverage.”

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They’ve been trying to get rid of ACA since it started 15 years ago. If they wanted to replace it with something they’ve had plenty of time to figure it out and about half of congress are the same fucking people that were in office back than. They don’t have a plan because they don’t want one.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      They don’t want Americans to have the great healthcare they get.

      Let’s force one of these low cost catastrophic plans on all of Congress. We will even give them $1,000 to start off their HSA with. That should cover a visit or two to the doctor for the rest of their miserable lives.

      Until we stop this blatant classism nothing is going to improve.

  • urno@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Not a Murican. If millions of people can’t afford healthcare and cancel, or even downgrade, doesn’t that ultimately begin to impact on the providers’ revenue? How much of a cutting off their nose to spite their face is this?

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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      2 days ago

      It looks like about 30% of our healthcare providers are owned by private equity firms. They don’t make money the traditional way, but give themselves loans, don’t pay it back, and then bankrupt the hospital by keeping the loan money.

      My guess is that the ones doing the grab and smash tactic are the ones paying off our politicians.

      https://pestakeholder.org/private-equity-hospital-tracker/

      • urno@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I couldn’t read too much of that website. I’ve only just started taking medication for my blood pressure….it’s genuinely baffling. As are quite a few of American ways.

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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          1 day ago

          It’s pretty bad. I don’t know where you live, but other countries are trying to go down the same road. Canada is trying to privatize their healthcare, Brexit with the UK, etc. I have no idea how to stop the greeds from being such assholes.