Health tax credit draw rare bipartisan support
By: Bo Erickson
Reuters
WASHINGTON - An unlikely alliance of Republicans and Democrats in Congress is pushing to address expiring Obamacare health care tax credits in upcoming legislation to keep the government funded past September 30. [2025]
.....
The move could give Senate Democrats something to present to their voters as a rare win at a time when Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and also allow President Donald Trump's party to prevent the year-end expiration of a popular benefit headed into a midterm election year.
..... Republicans aligned with Trump, Democratic lawmakers and representatives of the health care industry have separately called for extension of the tax credits used by many of the more than 24 million Americans who accessed health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace in 2025.
..... "Families getting notice in about six weeks that their health care premiums are going up at the end of the year [2025] is not the right direction,' said Republican representative Jen Kiggans, a nurse practitioner from Virginia, who, with 11 other Republicans, supports legislation to extend the subsidies for one year.
.....
The expiring tax credits were signed into law by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility expanded and out-of-pocket premiums were capped for benchmark plans under the ACA at 8.5% of income.
..... If Congress fails to act, Americans' premiums in the ACA marketplace could rise on average by 18% next year, [2026] according to health care nonprofit KFF.
..... When the ACA passed in 2010, it was derided by Republicans as "Obamacare" because of its inception by Democratic President Barack Obama. But 15 years later, some Republicans are warning this unresolved health care tax issued could be a detriment to their base and viewed as a potential tax hike. the party's leadership has not yet agreed to a solution.
.....
Advocacy groups from the conservative Americans for a Balanced Budget to the American Medical Association have urged Congress to extend the credits.
.....
Kiggans and many of the House Republicans pushing for a fix are in the most competitive House districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, according to nonpartisan analysts.
.....
"I struggle with Republicans sometimes not being in the arena with health care issues, and this is a no-brainer for me," Kiggans said.
..... Other conservatives balk at the program's cost, estimated at $380 billion by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
..... Senate Democrats' votes are necessary to pass government funding due to the chamber;s 60-vote threshold for most legislation. Their leaders are leaning into health care concerns but have not yet made a public push for the expiring tax credits to be addressed in the government funding debate.
..... "The American people are hurting because of how they have decimated health care. We need a bipartisan negotiation to undo that damage," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on September 11, [2025] referencing the estimated health care impacts from the republican tax cut and spending bill in July. [2025]