Congressional Democrats are holding the government hostage, refusing to keep it open unless Republicans extend expiring Biden-era health care subsidies. They’re painting those subsidies as essential to American health care—but their demands are unreasonable and out of step with reality.

Here’s what you should know about the expiring subsidies:

1. The subsidies are remnants of the response to COVID-19.
   
   The Biden administration used the COVID crisis to enhance existing Obamacare subsidies, first in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act and then again in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This last extension is now set to expire at the end of the year—a full two and half years after the official emergency ended. Most other COVID relief responses, including unemployment benefits, food stamps, student loans, and Medicaid, have already expired. The calls to make these subsidies permanent prove that the Left’s ultimate goal wasn’t COVID relief, but a full-blown expansion of Obamacare.
   
2. The number of people drawing a subsidy has nearly doubled since the COVID subsidy.
   
   Before the enhanced subsidies, both subsidized and unsubsidized Obamacare enrollment was stable. The COVID subsidy changed that. In 2019, 13.7 million individuals drew a subsidy. In 2025, that number spiked to 26.7 million in the first quarter alone. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending these subsidies permanently would result in a 3 million drop in employer-based coverage, a $380 billion increased cost to taxpayers over the next 10 years, and another 6.9 million individuals in Obamacare exchanges—receiving an average subsidy of $5,370. 
   
3. COVID subsidies have amplified fraud in the program.
   
   Thanks to the lack of any requirements for enrollees to contribute to their coverage, the enhanced subsidies opened the door to increased health care fraud. According to new research, many individuals were enrolled in subsidized coverage without their knowledge or had their subsidized coverage changed without their knowledge. Meanwhile, an estimated 6.4 million people were improperly designated as having income between 100 and 150% of the federal poverty level—enabling them to receive zero-premium coverage at a cost of over $27 billion in taxpayer dollars for 2025 alone.
   
4. Subsidies won’t disappear entirely just because COVID-era subsidies aren’t extended.
   
   Under Obamacare, premium subsidies were limited, available only to those with incomes between 100 and 400% of the federal poverty level. Additional cost-sharing subsidies were also limited, restricted to those with incomes between 100 and 250% of the poverty level. The COVID subsidies lifted the income limit and made the existing subsidies more generous, leaving many individuals with zero premium or cost sharing requirements. Under a return to Obamacare’s original standard, taxpayers will still pay 80 to 90% of premiums for low-income enrollees. An individual with income between 100 and 133% of the poverty level would still receive a generous federal subsidy leaving them contributing just $27 to $34 a month towards their coverage.    
   
5. These subsidies ignore the real Obamacare crisis.
   
   Despite Obamacare’s promises to lower premiums, they continue to climb. At the same time, deductibles have grown, networks have narrowed, and choices have decreased. In 2013, the year before Obamacare’s implementation, the national average premium for individual coverage was $244 per month. By 2022, that cost had climbed to $568 per month. The average deductibles for bronze-level plans increased by 40% between 2014 and 2024. 80% of silver plans and 76% of bronze plans imposed more restrictive networks on enrollees. And 34 states have fewer insurers than they did before Obamacare.

Congress should not turn a blind eye to Obamacare’s underlying issues by extending the expiring COVID-era subsidies. Instead, it should focus on fixing what’s really wrong—starting by restructuring subsidies and revamping the insurance market rules to bring greater transparency, accountability, and stability to enrollees and taxpayers alike.

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3. Schumer Threatens Government Shutdown, Something He, Other Senate Dems Decried as ‘Chaos’ in March