Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

BumRushDaShow

(165,755 posts)
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 05:30 AM Dec 15

Congress races against the clock to avert skyrocketing health care costs for millions

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Dec 14, 2025, 5:54 PM ET


Lawmakers are scrambling to address skyrocketing health care costs in the final days before Congress leaves Washington for the holidays, with enhanced tax credits that make insurance premiums more affordable for millions of Americans set to expire at the end of the month.

After the Senate failed to advance health care plans spearheaded by each party last week, it’s the House’s turn to take up proposals with similarly uncertain outcomes.

Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed to hold a vote on a Republican-led bill released last week, which includes provisions to lower premiums for certain Affordable Care Act enrollees through a cost-sharing reduction program. The plan would not extend the Covid-era subsidies due to lapse at the end of this month.

GOP leaders are also expected to allow an amendment to extend the ACA credits to come to the floor, as swing-state Republicans like Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania seek to force a vote on the issue. The legislative path to passing a short-term extension of the expiring subsidies before both chambers depart on Friday until early January seems all but impossible.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/14/politics/health-care-congress-bills-aca-subsidies

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Congress races against the clock to avert skyrocketing health care costs for millions (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Dec 15 OP
Races against the clock? UpInArms Dec 15 #1
Lol @ the press pretending congress cares SSJVegeta Dec 15 #26
They could not care less. Irish_Dem Dec 15 #28
In most states, today, Dec 15 is the deadline to pick a plan and have coverage beginning January 1 progree Dec 15 #2
Exactly. I checked for myself last night. Nearly $700/month for a lousy Bronze plan. Alice B. Dec 15 #3
Same here ybbor Dec 15 #4
Your kid deserves better than this. Alice B. Dec 15 #9
Yes, republiCONs made sure the ACA was a shitty plan wolfie001 Dec 15 #7
Whatever they're on must be a helluva hallucinogen. Alice B. Dec 15 #10
High on their own supply because they certainly aren't thinking about anyone else. littlemissmartypants Dec 15 #14
That prospect is one of the few things that keeps me going. Alice B. Dec 15 #15
Exactly! NCDem47 Dec 15 #5
NOW they care? Vote them all out. Timeflyer Dec 15 #6
Can the stupid as f68k voters figure this out? That's the $60 million dollar question wolfie001 Dec 15 #8
Oh the GOP dilemma... S/V Loner Dec 15 #11
Do they, CNN? They are working so hard to give us affordable healthcare! travelingthrulife Dec 15 #12
They broke it and now we must vote them all out. maliaSmith Dec 15 #13
For the vast majority of Democratic congress people, they care about people. Crowman2009 Dec 15 #16
How will Democrats fold this time? Bobstandard Dec 15 #17
Just to clue you in, democrats are not TBF Dec 15 #21
Putting your insults aside, remember how the shutdown ended? nt Bobstandard Dec 15 #23
How did you expect it to end, exactly? NickB79 Dec 15 #27
A reminder of where you are posting is not an insult - TBF Dec 15 #32
Hey FOLKS popsdenver Dec 15 #18
F**KING idiots. Just extend the subsidies until the rethugs can pull their ccollective heads out of their collective lostincalifornia Dec 15 #19
No-so-affordable Care Act? We should be pushing Medicare for all pcdb Dec 15 #25
Establishment Democrats are loathe to the idea. Yet MFA would be a winner as an election platform. LiberalLovinLug Dec 15 #31
Oh bullshit! They already had plenty of time, and NOW they're racing?! sakabatou Dec 15 #20
During the shutdown FormerOstrich Dec 15 #22
COBRA payments during G.W. Dumbass economy crisis suegeo Dec 15 #24
I don't see how tax credits are supposed to help, Bayard Dec 15 #29
The MAGA congress critters who sat out of session to deny Ms. Grijalva her seat are to blame for this mess gohuskies Dec 15 #30

UpInArms

(54,069 posts)
1. Races against the clock?
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 06:17 AM
Dec 15

Bullshit

They knew this was coming for months … they sat on the hands at the direction of TFG and project 2025 …

They have voted 75 times to kill the ACA

progree

(12,736 posts)
2. In most states, today, Dec 15 is the deadline to pick a plan and have coverage beginning January 1
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 06:25 AM
Dec 15

That's the default. Some states have extended deadlines.

I'm extremely very surprised and alarmed and appalled that the CNN article didn't mention that.

One can pick a plan by January 15 for coverage beginning February 1.

After that, one needs to qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a major life event like losing other coverage

Always check Healthcare.gov or your state's marketplace

Alice B.

(695 posts)
3. Exactly. I checked for myself last night. Nearly $700/month for a lousy Bronze plan.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 07:01 AM
Dec 15

I’ve read some people are signing up with the hope of a Hail Mary. That’s great if you can make the first premium payment that is expected at the outset. You know, right before Christmas.

ybbor

(1,709 posts)
4. Same here
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 08:14 AM
Dec 15

Went from a decent silver plan, that doubled in price, to a lesser bronze package. We paid less for BCBS prior to the ACA, than we are paying for now. Our country is trash. I’m am so sorry for my high school senior. She doesn’t deserve to be left this mess. At least my MAGA family members will offer thoughts and prayers.

Alice B.

(695 posts)
9. Your kid deserves better than this.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 09:53 AM
Dec 15

I can’t even imagine what parents are going through right now. Have been going through on this roller coaster.

Two years ago, I was paying for a non-market place plan that was the equivalent of bronze coverages and it was about $450/month.

This country is indeed broken 😣

wolfie001

(7,087 posts)
7. Yes, republiCONs made sure the ACA was a shitty plan
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 09:05 AM
Dec 15

But zero plan would be even worse. Funny how the repukes preach about how great this country is. We're not even in the top 50 anymore especially with the fat orange imbecile in the WH.

littlemissmartypants

(31,640 posts)
14. High on their own supply because they certainly aren't thinking about anyone else.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 10:52 AM
Dec 15

It reeks of arrogance and hubris is just a few steps away from FOFA.

There's a tipping point for every single thing.

These Republican "geniuses" have overwhelmingly lost any sense of reality and are heading for a fall.

I can hardly wait to help dig the grave for their obsolescence.

NCDem47

(3,325 posts)
5. Exactly!
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 08:38 AM
Dec 15

I've already paid my premium for January. You're telling me Blue Cross is going to go in and adjust the price now? TOO LATE CONGRESS.

I moved to a 2026 plan with a deductable and higher out-of-pocket maximum to avert a 40% increase from my 2025 plan to the exact same one in 2026.

S/V Loner

(9,490 posts)
11. Oh the GOP dilemma...
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 10:20 AM
Dec 15

How to increase the profits of health insurance companies and pharmaceuticals and still get elected so the can proceed with their Fascist agenda. They certainly are experiencing a conundrum.

travelingthrulife

(4,463 posts)
12. Do they, CNN? They are working so hard to give us affordable healthcare!
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 10:21 AM
Dec 15

Like saying Costco should provide it. It will come with that job you no longer have too.

maliaSmith

(135 posts)
13. They broke it and now we must vote them all out.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 10:21 AM
Dec 15

GOP totally own this insanity. We must vote them all out in Senate and House.

Crowman2009

(3,408 posts)
16. For the vast majority of Democratic congress people, they care about people.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:04 AM
Dec 15

For all the GOPer congress critters, all they care about is keeping their jobs.

Bobstandard

(2,183 posts)
17. How will Democrats fold this time?
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:05 AM
Dec 15

.Is it too cynical of me to suspect that enough Democrats will join with Republicans to approve a bad healthcare bill? They’ll say that they couldn’t let their constituents suffer from Republicans raising their ACA premiums. That it’s too important to “play politics” with the issue, even though the ultimate outcome is worse. Will our Representatives again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

TBF

(35,640 posts)
21. Just to clue you in, democrats are not
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 12:01 PM
Dec 15

in control of Congress - either house - or the presidency - or the Supreme Court. The republicans rule all right now & they are the ones who are responsible for this mess.

NickB79

(20,247 posts)
27. How did you expect it to end, exactly?
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 04:29 PM
Dec 15

Did you think the Republicans would cave? That wasn't going to happen. There was zero chance the GOP would extend the subsidies. It ended in the only way it could: the Republicans owning the inevitable health insurance crisis for the world to see.

TBF

(35,640 posts)
32. A reminder of where you are posting is not an insult -
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:14 PM
Dec 15

it is a helpful hint. That was weeks ago, and we're not going to change what happened.

Focusing on who is blocking ACA extensions now is more productive. Imo.

popsdenver

(1,558 posts)
18. Hey FOLKS
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:35 AM
Dec 15

The pain is just beginning.............Just wait to see all that is coming.............I seem to think that we all ain't seen nothing yet....

lostincalifornia

(4,907 posts)
19. F**KING idiots. Just extend the subsidies until the rethugs can pull their ccollective heads out of their collective
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:37 AM
Dec 15

asses, and actually try to come up with something viable, which is not likely, seeing they have had over a decade to do so, and have produced ZILCH.

pcdb

(84 posts)
25. No-so-affordable Care Act? We should be pushing Medicare for all
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 03:49 PM
Dec 15

The ACA made health insurance unaffordable without subsidies for most Americans. It's been a disaster; we should be pushing Medicare for all rather than propping up a bloated system that enriches big insurance companies at the cost of everyone else.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,577 posts)
31. Establishment Democrats are loathe to the idea. Yet MFA would be a winner as an election platform.
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 06:30 PM
Dec 15

I don't know if they just can't walk away from all their donor ties to the industry elites or what. I can't think of another reason. We desperately need this old guard to step down and let the newer bolder generation take over.

https://truthout.org/articles/aca-and-medicare-for-all-polls-reveal-voters-back-publicly-funded-health-care/
December 4, 2025

According to a Data for Progress poll published late last month, 63 percent of Americans say they support Medicare for All, even with the question including the caveat that it would “eliminate most private insurance plans and replace premiums with higher taxes.” Only 29 percent said they disliked the idea.

Remarkably, even a plurality of Republican respondents — a voting bloc that is normally opposed to large government spending programs — said they liked the concept of Medicare for All, with 47 percent voicing support, according to the poll.

sakabatou

(45,771 posts)
20. Oh bullshit! They already had plenty of time, and NOW they're racing?!
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 11:42 AM
Dec 15

It's almost as if they wanted to let the subsidies run out, and make the costs sky high while pocketing money from donors!

FormerOstrich

(2,868 posts)
22. During the shutdown
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 01:08 PM
Dec 15

I was asking questions about the impact and timing in relationship to the on-going open enrollment. Mainly because even then it seemed too lat.

They had announced months ago that Aetna was no longer going to offer individual plans in 2026 and I had to select an alternative. They rolled me into a similar plan but the premium was increasing almost 4x my current. As such, I have selected a plan of comparable price which I am a bit apprehensive of but I have paid the January premium already.

How does anything they do now negate the decisions and payments people have been forced into thinking the window was closing. Had they passed the extension would the premiums all change at a blink of an eye? Could we undo what we have done? I'm thinking not.

Pfffttt....too many don't have a clue of what we struggle with day to day.

suegeo

(3,101 posts)
24. COBRA payments during G.W. Dumbass economy crisis
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 03:00 PM
Dec 15

in 2008 Republican economic crash, the Democrats (Obama?) paid for some of the COBRA costs for laid off employees.

I remember because I was one of them. COBRA sucked, Obamacare helped, now we're back to GOP suckage again.

Bayard

(28,577 posts)
29. I don't see how tax credits are supposed to help,
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 05:40 PM
Dec 15

If you don't make enough to even pay taxes, like me with SS only. If that's all rethugs can come up with, its not going to help a lot of people. I'm worried about how much my Medicare premium will go up.

gohuskies

(1,221 posts)
30. The MAGA congress critters who sat out of session to deny Ms. Grijalva her seat are to blame for this mess
Mon Dec 15, 2025, 05:47 PM
Dec 15

Trump's collaborators led my mike johnson are to blame for this self inflicted wound and thrusting financial insecurity for affordable heathcare need to be held accountable for bankrupting families when ACA subsidies cease or are replaced by placating health insurance vultures.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Congress races against th...