GOP healthcare plan won't extend Obamacare expanded subsidies

A Republican-led series of healthcare bills will not include extensions for the COVID-19-era expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

House leadership has struggled to reach a consensus on healthcare reforms ahead of the deadline and the issue has come to the forefront in the wake of the government shutdown that Democrats ostensibly orchestrated to secure healthcare funding.

“We have some low-hanging fruit that every Republican agrees to,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said, according to The Hill. “You’re going to see a package come together that will be on the floor next week that will actually reduce premiums for 100 percent of Americans who are on health insurance.”

He provided little in the way of detail on the "low-hanging fruit", however, and it remains unclear whether the Republican plans have the support to pass the lower chamber, much less the Senate.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.