WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday failed to pass a Democratic measure extending health insurance subsidies that help millions of Americans afford medical coverage.
Four Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the bill to keep the subsidies going for three more years, but that was short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
The issue has become a major fault line in Georgia’s 2026 midterm campaign. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has made this extension a core part of his reelection message, arguing that an estimated 1.4 million Georgians could see their premiums spike if the tax credits lapse at the end of the year.
“This is life or death. People will die. This is one of the most consequential votes this Senate will take all year,” Ossoff said before the vote, urging Republicans to break ranks.
“What’s the point of having all this power if you won’t use it to help people?”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said earlier this week the bill was “nothing more than a political messaging exercise they can use against Republicans in November.”
Democrats are framing the lapse of subsidies used by roughly 24 million Americans as a high-stakes fight over basic health care access heading into next year’s midterms, when every statewide office in Georgia, including Ossoff’s Senate seat, is on the line.
Ossoff is using the vote to draw a sharp contrast with his top Republican rivals. U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, along with former football coach Derek Dooley, each oppose extending the subsidies.
They say the pandemic-era program, adopted in 2021 during COVID-19 restrictions, was meant to be temporary. Conservatives also argue Democrats have spent years papering over deeper problems in the health care system with piecemeal fixes.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
“Whenever you have to subsidize a federal program, that means it’s not working,” Carter, R-St. Simons, said, adding that Congress should “be empowering patients with affordable health care options that work best for them.”
Dooley called the enhanced subsidies “a mess” created by Democrats and blamed Washington for “putting Band-Aids on bullet holes and sticking taxpayers with the bill.” And Collins, R-Jackson, demanded the government halt “endless subsidies to the largest insurance companies on the globe.”
Republicans have not unified around an alternative.
The Senate also voted Thursday on a rival GOP proposal that allows the subsidies to expire but creates new government-funded health savings accounts. That bill failed 51-48; all Democrats and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., were opposed.
In the U.S. House, nearly a dozen Republicans have supported a workaround to party leaders and are working to force a floor vote on extending the subsidies. These GOP members, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have signed onto “discharge petitions” that could be successful if Democrats choose to join them.
There are two competing proposals, and Democrats so far are reluctant to support either. But that could change given the failed Senate votes today.
Greene has backed the petition filed by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, to keep the subsidies going two more years with new eligibility rules.
Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The legislative gridlock could leave millions of consumers on the hook for sharply higher premiums as a new enrollment year begins. People shopping for coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchange have until Monday to select a policy for coverage beginning Jan. 1. Without the subsidies, the cost of coverage is expected to more than double on average, according to analysis by KFF.
Nora Pullen, an ACA enrollee in Fayette County, said her plan will nearly double from $362 a month to $660 a month without subsidies. Now she’s considering what was once unthinkable.
“Without ACA tax credits, my health insurance plan will become completely unaffordable to the point that I might have to drop health insurance altogether,” she said.
Thursday’s vote is the byproduct of the record 43-day government shutdown that Democrats framed as a clash over health care. Ossoff faced pressure to break party ranks during the impasse, but he joined the vast majority of Democrats who insisted any deal to reopen the government must also extend the subsidies.
A handful of Senate Democrats struck a deal with Republicans to reopen the government, but that compromise did not extend the subsidies. Ossoff voted against that government funding measure, a move aligned with a base that demands more grit and less compromise under President Donald Trump’s second term.
As part of that shutdown-ending deal, Thune promised to schedule a floor vote on the subsidies extension. But he did not guarantee the bill would pass. And House Speaker Mike Johnson wouldn’t commit to taking it up at all.
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