10/28/2026
Democrats ready to spend more taxpayer dollars on Obamacare if they win control of Congress
By Lindsey McPherson - The Washington Times - Updated: 6:42 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2026
One of the Democrats’ first moves if they win congressional majorities will be to permanently expand Obamacare subsidies to lower out-of-pocket premium costs for people who purchase health insurance through the public marketplace.
The plan, which could cost as much as $350 billion, is one of the few concrete legislative proposals Democrats have offered as they campaign to lower the cost of living ahead of the midterm elections Tuesday.
“We’re going to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which will help make health insurance premiums more affordable for over 20 million Americans directly and tens of millions more whose premiums have increased indirectly, even if they may be on private insurance,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said on MS NOW.
The base version of the tax credits still exists. It was Democrats’ pandemic-era expansion, which made the subsidies more generous and extended them to people earning above 400% of the federal poverty level for the first time, that expired last year.
Even if Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate, their legislation to renew the enhanced subsidies will need at least some Republican support to clear a filibuster in the Senate.
President Trump could issue a veto or demand restrictions in exchange for his signature. He has opposed the subsidy structure, which pays insurance companies directly, and said he would rather give consumers the money and greater flexibility to choose their own plans.
“I’d like to see a public option get passed. People can keep their private insurance if they like it, but getting a public option passed,” Wisconsin Democratic House nominee Rebecca Cooke said at an Oct. 20 debate. “And I think the first thing that I’d like to do, if Democrats win back the House, H.R. 1, is expanding that ACA tax credit premium for three more years.”
Ms. Cooke is running in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District against Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a two-term Republican.
“To be clear, I voted to extend the Obamacare subsidies. I’m one of six Republicans that did that,” Mr. Van Orden responded in the debate, referring to the initial Republican lawmakers who signed the discharge petition. “It would be nice to get a little credit here.”
Mr. Van Orden was ultimately one of 17 House Republicans who voted for a bill in January to renew the expanded subsidies for three years. Democrats were able to force a floor vote after securing those initial five Republicans to sign on to a discharge petition, but the measure stalled in the Senate.
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, one of the Republicans who voted against renewing the expanded subsidies, said in a debate that there are better ways to lower healthcare costs than sending subsidies directly to insurance companies.
“I actually believe that the money should go to the people that are paying the premiums at a minimum,” he said. “And then we need to reform the system so that you’re not taxed for healthcare, so that there’s transparency, so that there’s portability, so that we can see what the prices are, so that we can shop around, and that we’re focused on wellness as opposed to sick care, which is what we have now.”
Cost increases and enrollment drops
After the enhanced subsidies expired, monthly out-of-pocket premium costs for Americans who enrolled in 2026 Obamacare plans increased by an average of 58%, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization.
The increase would have been far higher had everyone kept their same plan, but many Obamacare enrollees switched to plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles. As a result, the average deductible for Obamacare plan holders increased by 37% to a record high of $3,786 in 2026, KFF said.
KFF surveyed a group of Obamacare enrollees before the enhanced subsidies expired in 2025 and again in early 2026 after they had to make plan decisions without the more generous benefits.
Eight in 10 said their healthcare costs increased, and 55% said they had to cut back on other household spending to afford coverage.
Seven in 10 reenrolled in Obamacare, although 28% changed marketplace plans. One in 10 decided to forgo insurance, while the others obtained coverage elsewhere.
Nationwide enrollment in the individual health insurance market fell 18% when measured year-over-year in June, according to KFF.
That period accounts for people who initially signed up for 2026 plans but dropped them because of high costs, resulting in an overall enrollment decrease of around 4.6 million people.
A Trump administration report issued in June said 19.2 million Americans were enrolled in Obamacare plans — still far higher than the annual average of 10 million before Democrats’ 2021 expansion of the tax credits.
The report said nearly half of the enrollment growth during the Biden administration was suspected to be “improper, phantom or fraudulent” because of auto-enrollments and people misstating their income to gain access to the new $0 premium plans.
The Trump administration said its “program integrity efforts” have prevented 2.9 million people from receiving subsidies for which they were not eligible.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number,” the report said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that making the pandemic expansion of the Obamacare subsidies permanent would increase the number of people with health insurance by 3.8 million over a decade, at a cost of $350 billion.
The cost estimate was prepared before the enhanced subsidies expired, and CBO said that legislative action to renew them after a lapse would result in lower federal costs.
Mixed up with Medicaid
On the campaign trail, Democrats often discuss rising premiums from the expiration of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies in tandem with Republican spending cuts to Medicaid in Mr. Trump’s second-term tax cut law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Mike Collins and Donald Trump passed the biggest Medicaid cut in history. A hospital in Mike Collins’ own district had to shut down its labor and delivery unit, citing those Medicaid cuts,” Sen. Jon Ossoff, Georgia Democrat, said during an Oct. 20 debate with his Republican opponent. “Not to mention health insurance premiums have doubled for more than a million Georgians; 300,000 have lost their insurance altogether,” he said. The figures cited by Mr. Ossoff’s campaign could not be immediately verified through independent federal or health policy data.
“Not to mention health insurance premiums have doubled for more than a million Georgians; 300,000 have lost their insurance altogether,” he said.
Democrats say if they win the majority, they will reverse the Medicaid cuts and permanently renew the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
A House Democratic healthcare working group that presented legislative options to Mr. Jeffries last month suggested both should be priorities for the first 100 hours of the next Congress. It was unclear whether they would package them into a single bill or as separate measures — a decision that could affect potential Republican support.
Some Democrats are advocating a bipartisan approach to reinstating the enhanced subsidies to address Republican concerns about fraud.
“I’m a part of a bipartisan group — Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate members. We have talked about it, and we can make reforms,” Rep. Don Davis, North Carolina Democrat, recently told Spectrum News.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/27/democrats-ready-spend-taxpayer-dollars-obamacare-win-control-congress/
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One of Democrats’ first moves if they win congressional majorities will be to permanently reexpand Obamacare subsidies to lower out-of-pocket premium costs for people who purchase health insurance through the public marketplace.
