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healthcare
Democrats Aim to Make GOP Pay as 'Angry' Voters See Health Insurance Premiums Soar
"Republican politicians who cut healthcare to pay for more billionaire tax cuts, or to increase profits for their corporate donors, are selling out working families," said Rep. Greg Casar.
Jan 02, 2026
The enhanced subsidies for people who buy their health insurance through exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act have officially expired, and Democratic lawmakers are ready to make sure voters know whom to blame going into the midterm elections.
Politico reported Friday that while Democrats in Congress are still pushing their Republican colleagues to allow a vote on renewing the enhanced subsidies, they have mostly settled on a political strategy of going scorched-earth on the GOP for letting them expire in the first place.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) told Politico that Americans who see their monthly premiums skyrocket in the wake of the subsidies' expiration will take out their anger on the GOP.
"I think the public’s angry," Bera said. "So I think they will blame the party in charge."
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) emphasized that the huge spikes Americans will see in their monthly premiums will help Democrats make the case that President Donald Trump and Republicans have failed to tackle the affordability crisis in the US.
“It’s part of the top issue, which is cost of living—whether it’s groceries, gas, housing, energy costs,” said Deluzio. “Healthcare seems to be top of mind as something that Congress can actually do to bring down the costs."
In a Friday social media post, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) also piled on and hammered the GOP for inaction on healthcare.
"Healthcare is a human right, not a bargaining chip," he wrote. "Republican politicians who cut healthcare to pay for more billionaire tax cuts, or to increase profits for their corporate donors, are selling out working families."
And its not just Democrats raising alarms about the expired subsidies, as Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said in an interview with BBC that was "pissed for the American people" about his party not holding a vote on renewing them.
"Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to their constituents," said Lawler. "You know what is funny? Three-quarters of people on Obamacare are in states Donald Trump won."
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‘Scorched-Earth Attack’: Trump Admin Cuts Off Childcare Funds to All States
"My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Jan 01, 2026
The Trump administration on Wednesday froze federal childcare funding to every state in the US after initially suspending funds for Minnesota earlier this week, a move that the state's Democratic attorney general condemned as a "hasty, scorched-earth attack" on key social services.
Jim O'Neill, deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a statement posted to social media that he has "activated our defend the spend system for all [Administration for Children and Families] payments" to states, alleging "fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country." As evidence, O'Neill cited a viral video by Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who recently visited Somali-owned Minnesota daycare sites at the direction of state Republicans.
In order to receive Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funding going forward, O'Neill said Thursday, states will have to provide "a justification and a receipt or photo evidence." States with childcare centers that the Trump administration suspects of fraud will have to jump through additional hoops, according to an HHS spokesperson.
The Trump administration's decision to cut off childcare funds to all states—not just Minnesota—on the dubious grounds of fighting fraud came after Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused President Donald Trump of politicizing the issue to advance a broader assault on the social safety net.
"While Minnesota has been combating fraud, the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail," Walz wrote in a social media post on Thursday, apparently referring to the president's commutation of the seven-year prison sentence of David Gentile, a former private equity executive convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors.
"Trump’s using an issue he doesn’t give a damn about as an excuse to hurt working Minnesotans," Walz added.
"If we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer."
In a statement on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that the Trump administration "is threatening funding for the essential childcare services that countless families across Minnesota rely on—apparently all on the basis of one video on social media."
"To say I am outraged is an understatement," he said. "We’ve seen this movie before. In mid-December, the Trump administration gave four counties in Minnesota one month to conduct in-person interviews with almost 100,000 households that receive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits to reverify their eligibility."
"My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding," Ellison added.
Minnesota state Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (D-49B), co-chair of the Legislature's committee on children and families, warned that "if we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer."
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Republicans in Congress Ripped for 'Entirely Preventable' 2026 Healthcare Crisis
"Working families simply can't afford to pay more money for worse care. We need to extend ACA tax credits to lower costs."
Dec 31, 2025
With millions of Americans facing health insurance premium hikes and Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at midnight, critics, including congressional Democrats, called out Republicans on Capitol Hill for kicking off 2026 with a nationwide healthcare crisis.
"When the clock strikes midnight, the fallout of the GOP's premium hikes will ripple throughout the nation," Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach said in a Wednesday statement. "This new year brings a healthcare catastrophe unlike anything this nation has ever seen. Hardworking Americans will be sent into crippling medical debt, emptying out their savings just to see a doctor. Others will be forced to live without the life-saving coverage they need. Untold tens of thousands will die from preventable causes."
"And hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes, and maternity wards will shutter or be at risk of disappearing out of thin air," Dach warned. "When the American people go to the ballot box in November, they won't forget who's responsible for all of this chaos and carnage. They won't forget who's responsible for their skimpier coverage, sky-high premiums, and vanishing hospitals."
Republican lawmakers declined to extend ACA subsidies in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which is also expected to slash an estimated $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over the next decade, leading to health clinic closures, while giving more tax breaks to the ultrawealthy. Even the longest federal government shutdown in history—which a handful of moderate Senate Democrats ultimately ended without any real concessions—couldn't convince the GOP to extend the expiring tax credits.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has faced calls to step down over his handling of both shutdowns this year, stressed in a Wednesday statement that the healthcare crisis beginning Thursday "was entirely preventable—caused by Republican obstruction and total inaction."
"Millions of Americans will lose their healthcare, and millions more will see their costs spike by thousands of dollars," he continued. "Millions of hardworking families, small business owners and employees, older Americans, and farmers and ranchers will face impossible choices."
Specifically, about 22 million people who receive subsidies face higher premiums next year, and experts warn nearly 5 million people could become uninsured if the tax credits aren't extended. That's on top of the at least 10 million people expected to lose Medicaid coverage over the next decade, thanks to the OBBBA that President Donald Trump signed into law this summer.
Noting that the expiring subsidies are set to leave millions of Americans without health insurance, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declared on social media Wednesday, "Republicans don't give a damn."
The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday shared the story of Eleanor Walsh, of St. John, Indiana. She and her husband, who are both self-employed, paid around $9,100 for health insurance this year. In 2026, it will increase to $23,400. To save money, they are going with another plan, which has a $10,130 deductible for each of them, she told the newspaper.
"We're going through every expense we have," said Walsh, whose family has over $10,000 in medical debt from her husband's recent open-heart surgery. "It's going to be a rough year."
In Alta, Wyoming, Stacy Newton and her husband similarly run small businesses and buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace. She was diagnosed with chronic leukemia last year. The cheapest option to cover the couple and their teenage kids next year includes a $3,573 monthly premium, or nearly $43,000 for the year, with a $21,200 deductible.
"It's terrifying... We're not rich, we're not poor. We're a standard, middle-class family, and somehow now I can't afford health insurance," Newton told the Washington Post. "If my leukemia acts up, I'm up a creek... I just don't have a solution yet."
"I just officially canceled my ACA marketplace insurance for 2026," she told the paper earlier this week. "How on Earth is this going to unfold for millions of people in America?"
While Americans are forced to make coverage decisions before open enrollment ends in mid-January, without any promise of the subsidies returning, Schumer signaled that Democrats are still fighting for a fix in Washington, DC.
"Senate Republicans had multiple chances to work with Democrats to stop premiums from skyrocketing—and every time, they blocked action," he said. "While Republicans chose to do nothing and ignore the pain families will feel starting tomorrow, Senate Democrats are fighting to lower costs, protect coverage, and make life more affordable—not harder—for American families."
Four Republicans in the House of Representatives have signed on to a discharge petition to force a January vote on Democratic legislation to extend the credits for three years. Roll Call reported Tuesday that "with the knowledge that a procedural vote on a similar bill was rejected in the Senate, a bipartisan group of senators is working on a compromise to extend the credits."
However, as the outlet also pointed out, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has called Democrats' three-year extension of the tax credits a "waste of money."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)—one of the lawmakers who has used the current healthcare debate to renew demands for Medicare for All—took aim at Thune on social media Monday.
Other lawmakers have kept up the battle for universal healthcare this week. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that "everyone in America—no matter what their ZIP code is—should have access to the quality healthcare they need, when they need it. That's why I'm fighting to put us on the path to Medicare for All."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who reintroduced the Medicare for All Act in April with Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (Mich.)—highlighted Sunday that "millions of Americans remain at jobs they hate for one reason: the health insurance they receive."
"That's absurd," he said. "Universal healthcare will give Americans the freedom to choose the work they want without worrying about healthcare coverage. Another reason for Medicare for All."
Absent any real progress on the ACA, let alone Medicare for All, in DC, "at least a dozen states are working to shield people from soaring health insurance costs following Congress' failure to extend Obamacare subsidies for tens of millions of Americans," Politico reported Monday.
Elected officials are taking action in states including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Mexico, the last of which is the only one so far to cover all expiring subsidies, according to the outlet.
"We can carry the cost for a little bit, but at some point, we will need Congress to act," said the speaker of New Mexico House of Representatives, Javier Martínez (D-11). "No state can withstand to plug in every single budget hole that the Trump administration leaves behind."
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