Republicans Filibuster Bill Averting Health Care Premium Hikes Next Year

Democrats, meanwhile, blocked a competing GOP bill on Thursday that would have bolstered health savings accounts instead.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked Democratic legislation that would have extended enhanced tax credits for over 20 million people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act for the next three years, setting up big health insurance premium hikes next year.

The 51-48 vote capped a bitter months-long battle in Congress over health care that included the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. In exchange for voting to reopen the government last month, a group of moderate Democrats received assurances that they’d at least get a chance to vote to extend the subsidies, which lapse at the end of the year. As many Democrats foresaw at the time, it went nowhere.

Still, four Republican senators joined every Democrat in voting for the bill: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.

Republicans, meanwhile, offered a competing plan on Thursday as political cover for vulnerable members ahead of next year’s midterm elections that also failed to advance due to Democratic opposition. The GOP plan would not have extended the subsidies, which were originally passed by Democrats amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather replaced them with taxpayer-funded Health Savings Accounts. The vote on that measure was 51-48, with GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky being the lone senator to cross party lines by siding against it.

The doomed votes led to yet another round of finger-pointing in the Senate as health insurance costs are about to soar for people enrolled in Obamacare — and some who are not. Republicans said the need for additional financial support showed why Obamacare is broken, while Democrats accused Republicans of needlessly allowing people to suffer, vowing to make them pay at the ballot box next year.