January 8, 2026
How about this… the House of Representatives just defied the Republican leadership and passed a bill that would restore those ACA healthcare subsidies for three more years for about 24 million Americans. That happened because 17 Republicans just crossed party lines.
But don’t get excited yet – your healthcare subsidy is available yet… and I’m going to tell you why in a second. But first you have to understand what is going on and how we got here.
Obviously – by now you know that as of January first – heath insurance premiums have skyrocket. That is because of rising healthcare costs – but it’s also because the affordable care act enhanced premium tax credits which congress allowed to expire on December 31st. Republicans wanted them gone. And democrats have been fighting to restore them. And as I told you in this video back in December – the house democrats pulled off a very rare feat – they crafted a discharge petition to extend these ACA subsidies with no changes for three more years. That discharge petition reached the magic number of 218 signatures when four Republicans crossed party lines and signed it over the objection of the House Speaker. The discharge petition went to the floor of the House today and we saw Republican support for the extension grow from just four Republicans to 17 Republicans who now say they support the idea of extending those ACA subsidies.
The final vote was 230 to 196. All the no votes were from Republicans. All the yes votes were Democrats plus these 17 Republicans.
Now – here’s why you shouldn’t get excited about these subsides being fully restored anytime soon. Back in December – the Senate already voted on a similar bill that would have extended the ACA subsidies – and it failed. So it’s unlikely that this discharge petition even though it passed in the House would put any pressure on senate Republicans to change their votes. However – what this discharge petition *is* doing is forcing Republicans and Democrats to work together to come up with some kind of healthcare compromise that *can* pass. The lawmakers who are working on this new deal say this discharge petition gives them some momentum to restore the ACA subsidies –perhaps for two years instead of three and add some kind of new income caps and antifraud measures. The big sticking point that is holding up progress is abortion and how these subsidies and ACA plans do or do not cover abortion services.
See how your House lawmaker voted here.
