'He Had Power to Stop This': GOP's Hawley Warns of Looming Healthcare Disaster After Enabling It

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday took some flack from critics after he warned about big spikes in Americans' insurance premiums that he personally had the power to stop just weeks ago.

During an event hosted by Axios, Hawley was asked about potentially voting to extend some of the enhanced tax credits to help Americans pay the cost of their health insurance that were passed by Democrats during former President Joe Biden's term in office.

"If we don't [extend the tax credits], the cost of insurance is just going to explode... for families, working people across the nation," Hawley said. "I mean, already we're seeing premium increases with are just, which are unbelievable. We're looking at anything from 10% to 30% increases in the cost of health insurance."

"These subsidies allow folks to pay less than 10% of their income—which is still a lot, by the way—for health insurance," the senator added. "If we don't do something about that, we could see people paying double what they're paying now. I just don't know how you can afford it, I don't know how working people can afford it."

Some critics were quick to point out that Hawley could have insisted on an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits—which are set to expire at the end of the year—as a necessary condition for voting in favor of the massive budget reconciliation package that barely passed the U.S. Senate and required Vice President J.D. Vance to serve as a tie-breaking vote.

During the run up to voting on the bill, Hawley complained about the roughly $1 trillion in cuts it contained to Medicaid over the span of a decade, but wound up voting for it regardless.

"Josh Hawley is exhibit #1 of what it means to have a cult leader in charge," wrote Democratic California State Sen. Scott Wiener on the social media platform X. "He voted to blow up Medicaid and ACA—after vocally saying he was opposed to doing so—and now he's complaining about it. He had power to stop this disaster. He chose not to because the leader insisted."

"If some aspect of a bill is going to devastate constituents financially, how can a responsible representative vote it it?" asked longtime New York Times media reporter Bill Carter. "Hawley wants to say: 'Look how hard I'm fighting for you, after I sold you out.'"

Paul Waldman, a columnist for MSNBC and The Daily Beast, mused about how poorly statements such as Hawley's would play in a future run for the presidency.

"Josh Hawley is rolling out his compelling 2028 persona, Guy Who Feels Your Pain Now That The Bills He Voted For Made Your Life Miserable," he wrote on social media platform Bluesky.

Missouri-based progressive activist Jess Piper explained that Hawley's decision to vote for the GOP budget bill was going to hurt her personally.

"He's my Senator," she said. "He's the reason I will lose my health insurance."

KFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare last week released a study projecting that ACA marketplace premiums will go up so much if the tax credits aren't extended that millions of Americans will simply opt out of having health insurance.

"If Congress takes no action to renew these enhanced tax credits, enhanced subsidies will expire at the end of 2025, which will cause premium payments for subsidized enrollees to increase by over 75% starting in January 2026," the study stated. "Insurers expect a large share of enrollees to leave the market, and that those enrollees will be healthier on average, thus leaving the risk pool sicker on average."

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this week that more than four million people could lose health insurance over the next decade if lawmakers don’t extend the ACA tax credits.