December 17, 2025
House GOP just passed their latest plan to overhaul the US health insurance system.
Does it create universal healthcare?
No.
Does it extend those expiring affordable care act subsidies?
No.
Does it throw out the affordable care act?
No.
Then what does it do?
I’m going to tell you in this video plus I’m going to explain whether this has a chance of passing. But before I do that, you should know the final vote on this bill was 216 to 211. Six lawmakers did not vote three were Republicans three were Democrats. All of the yes votes came from Republicans and all of the no votes came from Democrats plus one Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Ok – so let’s talk about what the lower health care premiums for all Americans act actually does. According to the legislation – which by the way was just introduced last week – it does not extend the ACA subsidies that 24 million Americans currently rely on to reduce the cost of their a-c-a health care premiums. And it does not give more money for Americans who use health savings accounts. But interestingly enough it also does not repeal Obamacare. This republican proposal relies on Obamacare staying in place. So what the plan does is allow small businesses, self-employed people and existing associations to band together across industries to buy health care coverage through what are called association health plans. The idea is to give individuals, associations and small businesses more flexibility to maybe partner with other folks in other industries to make the risk pools bigger so they can have more negotiating power with insurance companies to reduce prices. It also allows what republicans call the custom health option. That allows employers to give workers tax free money to buy their own individual health insurance plans. And it requires the people in charge of negotiating drug prices for insurers and employers to be more transparent about the actual cost of prescription drugs. Republicans are also promising that by 2027 the government will once again start reimbursing the health insurance companies – with taxpayer money — for lower cost deductibles, copays and out of pocket maximums through what are called cost sharing reduction payments.
But will it save you money. The Republicans say yes. And so does the non-partisan congressional budget office. The CBO says this particular bill will reduce gross benchmark premiums by 11%, on average, through 2035.
So – bottom line – will it become the law? Well – it’s certainly not going to become law this year. That’s because this bill has to pass the Senate. The senate like the house is schedule to go on holiday recess tomorrow – so they will not be voting on this before then. And once the senate returns to work in January – it’s unlikely that this bill will pass because again it needs 60 votes. That means Democrats would need to vote yes and they were never included in the crafting of this bill.
Read the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act here.
Read the CBO score on the bill here.
See how your House lawmaker voted here.
