House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that he will not hold a vote on extending tax credits that help millions of Americans afford health insurance, which means that premiums will more than double beginning Jan. 1.
Last week, Johnson suggested that he may hold a vote on an amendment pushed by some House Republicans, which would have extended the tax credits. But now he’s changed his mind.
House Speaker Mike Johnson
"We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be," Johnson said.
It was already clear last week that ACA premiums would rise exponentially, when Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have extended the tax credits for three years. But Johnson's comments now seal Republicans' fate in causing the pain Americans will feel in choosing whether to cough up more money to stay insured or give up coverage entirely.
"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 executive vice president for health policy, wrote on X. "Some will find a way to pay it, some have switched to higher deductibles, and some have dropped coverage."
Those Republican lawmakers who wanted a vote on extending the subsidies are now furious, fearing that they will lose their seats in the 2026 midterms as they will—rightfully—be blamed for skyrocketing insurance premiums.
“I think it’s idiotic not to have an up-or-down vote on this issue. It is political malpractice,” Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, one of the most vulnerable GOP lawmakers who was pushing for the extension, told reporters Tuesday.
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California called Johnson's refusal to hold a vote on extending the tax credits a "failure of leadership."
A cartoon by Mike Luckovich.
Still, their comments aren’t swaying Johnson.
“Fitzpatrick and Lawler and the others are fighting tooth-an-nail for their constituents—I understand that as well as anyone, because I’m the one in their districts campaigning with them,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.
Of course, it's not surprising that Johnson and GOP leadership would deliver a gigantic FU to Americans on health care.
Already this year they've slashed Medicaid funding through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which will cause millions of Americans to lose health care and destroy rural hospitals that serve many of President Donald Trump's own supporters.
So now Republicans are going to make insurance coverage more expensive for millions more—all because they’re reflexively against the ACA, one of former President Barack Obama's signature achievements.
It’s been 15 years since the ACA passed, and Republicans still offer no alternative. And now Americans are going to pay the price.
