Enhanced ACA subsidies to expire as talks in Congress stall – NPR

Politics

How the long-running Obamacare fight came to thwart enhanced subsidies in Congress

Updated December 17, 202512:10 PM ET, Heard on Morning Edition

By Sam Gringlas 3-Minute Listen Transcript

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., meets with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday as Republicans confront internal divisions over how to to address growing health care costs.

This story was adapted from an article that first published on Nov. 5, 2025.

With only two days to go before a scheduled holiday recess, it is looking increasingly likely that members of Congress will leave Washington without extending Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies.

The enhanced subsidies for ACA marketplace plans will expire at the end of the year, spiking premiums for millions of Americans. Many are seeing the price tag of their plans double or triple.

The deadline to sign up for plans on the ACA exchange was Monday, and some subscribers say they will forgo health insurance because they can no longer afford the premiums without the subsidies.

So far, that has not spurred Congress to coalesce around a plan to address health care costs.

The Affordable Care Act may be more popular than ever. Polls show support from voters across the political spectrum for extending the enhanced subsidies, which were first passed in 2021.

But 15 years since the ACA became law, the debate over health care has endured in Congress — and seems poised to spill into 2026, when every House seat and a third of the Senate is on the ballot.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Enhanced ACA subsidies to expire as talks in Congress stall : NPR