In a dramatic break with party leadership, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to extend enhanced health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a move that could reshape the political landscape and ease rising insurance costs for millions of Americans.
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The vote was 230–196, with 17 Republican lawmakers joining all House Democrats, signaling significant intra-party discord and underscoring the urgency of the issue for voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, reported the Washington Post.
The measure seeks to extend COVID-19 pandemic-era Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years, helping Americans who buy their insurance on ACA marketplaces afford coverage. These enhanced subsidies had expired at the end of last year after months of stalled negotiations in Congress, threatening to send insurance premiums sharply higher for roughly 22 million people, stated AP News.
The bill’s passage came via an unusual procedural maneuver known as a discharge petition, which allows members to bypass leadership and bring legislation straight to a vote if they gather enough signatures, according to AP News. A group of moderate Republicans, frustrated by GOP leadership’s refusal to let a clean subsidy extension reach the floor, joined Democrats to reach the 218-member threshold needed to force the vote.
Republican leaders, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), opposed the legislation and argued it was fiscally irresponsible and vulnerable to fraud.
Despite the House’s action, the bill’s future remains uncertain. The Senate previously blocked similar measures late last year, and Senate Republican leaders are pushing their own alternative proposals.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the three-year extension would increase the federal deficit by approximately $80.6 billion over the next decade, reported AP News. However, it also projected that millions more Americans would maintain or gain health insurance coverage under the extended subsidies, with significant increases in enrollment projected through 2029.
After hours, health care stocks such as Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) are up only slightly.
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