Reuters: A handful of U.S. Senate Republicans are wrestling with the impending expiration of health insurance subsidies that are the primary sticking point in the government shutdown standoff that entered its 13th day on Monday.
The lawmakers have not voted in favor of a proposal put forward by Senate Democrats to extend the subsidies. However, the senators are talking with the White House and Democrats about a possible way to address the surge in health insurance costs. Some Republicans said failure to resolve the issue could become a liability in the 2026 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
Small business owners, gig workers and farmers who do not get health insurance through their employers are beginning to receive notices of sharp increases in premiums for policies bought through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Many live in Republican strongholds, and those primarily at risk are middle-class Americans making $60,000 to about $105,000 annually, according to insurance experts, because they most benefited from enhanced subsidies started by Democrats during the COVID pandemic.
The enhanced subsidies expire at the end of the year.
“We’ve got to make sure that premiums don’t go sky-high,” Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican running for governor of Alabama, told Reuters.
Tuberville, along with five other Senate Republicans including Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis and Jim Justice, have publicly shared concerns about the impending expiration.
Senate Democrats launched this Washington battle by using their leverage on a funding bill that is needed to keep government programs running. At least 60 votes are required to clear the way for passage of a stopgap bill and Republicans control the Senate by a narrow 53-47 margin.
Without a healthcare deal, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued, “People will go bankrupt, people will get sick, people will die.”
Democratic senators have so far voted seven times against the Republicans’ short-term funding plan. Three Democrats have broken from the party and voted with Republicans, arguing short-term shutdown impacts on Americans are too painful to hold out for ACA negotiations.
