Democrats’ COVID-Era Obamacare Subsidies Represent a Fraction of Premiums for a Fraction of the Health Insurance Market

Majority Leader | Research | The Leader Board | THE NEWSR...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMThe Leader Board10.28.25Democrats’ COVID-Era Obamacare Subsidies Represent a Fraction of Premiums for a Fraction of the Health Insurance MarketAt Taxpayers’ Expense, Democrats’ Obamacare Subsidies Benefit Higher Income Brackets and Increase Waste While Failing to Address the Fundamental Problem with Obamacare: It Hasn’t Made Health Care More Affordable DEMOCRATS’ TAXPAYER-FUNDED OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES PRIMARILY BENEFIT ONLY A SMALL SLIVER OF AMERICANS, MANY OF WHOM ARE IN “HIGHER INCOME BRACKETS”Only 6% of all Americans have the type of health insurance sold on Obamacare’s marketplaces.(KFF: The Uninsured Population and Health Coverage – 10/8/25)“In March 2021, at the height of the pandemic, the American Rescue Plan temporarily extended premium subsidy eligibility to those with incomes above 400% of the federal poverty level, allowing people at any income level to receive subsidies originally intended for those with modest means. In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act extended those subsidies through December 2025.” (The Wall Street Journal: Op-ed: Let the ObamaCare Enhanced Premium Subsidies Expire – 9/29/25)“The temporarily expanded subsidies eliminated the 400-percent-of-poverty cap, allowing some Americans with incomes of almost $600,000 to qualify for government benefits.” (CATO Institute: Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies – 10/7/25)“The Biden administration sold those subsidies as a ‘temporary’ response to the Covid pandemic, but now, as with most of the Covid spending binge, Democrats want to make it permanent.” (The Federalist: Op-Ed: No, Obamacare Premiums Are Not Doubling – 10/8/25)“Enhanced subsidies helped Americans in higher income brackets… About half of all marketplace shoppers paid nothing for their monthly premium, and many higher-income earners received hundreds more in subsidies every month.” (The Washington Post: Average Obamacare premiums are set to rise 30 percent, documents show – 10/24/25)The cost of extending Democrats’ taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies over 10 years is projected to be $390 billion. (Congressional Budget Office: The Estimated Effects of Enacting Selected Health Coverage Policies on the Federal Budget and on the Number of People With Health Insurance – 9/18/25)“Letting the subsidies go away merely restores the original ObamaCare premium-support structure. That preserves access to subsidies for low-income populations, who already comprise 93% of the 24 million who get health insurance through the ObamaCare exchanges.” (The Wall Street Journal: Op-ed: Let the ObamaCare Enhanced Premium Subsidies Expire – 9/29/25)Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), the only House Democrat who voted to keep the government open, justified his vote by saying, “I’m not willing to shut down the government over healthcare subsidies for households making $300,000.” (The Wall Street Journal: The Lone House Democrat Who Thinks His Party Has the Shutdown All Wrong – 10/26/25)PREMIUMS WILL RISE WITH OR WITHOUT EXPIRATION OF THE COVID-ERA SUBSIDIES, WHICH REPRESENT A SMALL FRACTION OF PREMIUM COSTS“[T]he expiration of Biden’s COVID Credits, a temporary pandemic measure enhancing subsidies for ACA enrollees, accounts for only 4 percent of the expected 20 percent average premium increase next year.”(Paragon Health Institute: Obamacare 2026 Premiums Largely Unaffected by Expiration of Biden’s COVID Credits – accessed 10/28/25)By advocating to permanently extend their COVID-era subsidies, “Democrats are effectively conceding that Obamacare as originally designed has failed, and the only way to keep the program functional is to dump more taxpayer dollars into it forever.” (National Review: The Obamacare Ratchet Effect – 10/3/25)Without even including Democrats’ enhanced subsidies enacted in 2021, Obamacare has cost taxpayers $1.5 trillion since its enactment. (Paragon Health Institute: Obamacare: Overbudget and Underdelivering – 10/28/24)“The purpose of Obamacare, according to Democrats, was supposed to be making health care more affordable for everyone and subsidizing it for people with lower incomes. Over a decade later, Obamacare keeps raising costs for health insurance, and Democrats now insist that everyone, regardless of income, should be eligible for larger subsidies than Obama signed.” (National Review: The Obamacare Ratchet Effect – 10/3/25)Premiums for the average Obamacare enrollee have increased 221% between 2013 and 2025. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Individual Market Premium Changes: 2013 – 2017 – 5/23/17; Paragon Health Institute: Almost Entire Obamacare Premium Increases Paid for By Taxpayers – accessed 10/27/25)“According to the Congressional Budget Office, around one-third of the extra spending from the extended subsidies would go to households earning at least four times the poverty threshold – that means families of four earning six-figure salaries.” (Project Syndicate: The Problem with America’s Health-Care Subsidies – 10/16/25)DEMOCRATS’ COVID-ERA SUBSIDIES ARE RIDDLED WITH WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSEIn 2024 alone, over $35 billion was sent to insurance companies “for people who paid no premiums and never used their plan.” (Paragon Health Institute: Biden’s COVID Credits Are an ObamaCare Expansion That Congress Should Allow To Expire – 9/4/25)“Tens of billions in federal subsidies are flowing to insurers and brokers for phantom enrollees—people without a single doctor visit, prescription filled, or service received.” (Paragon Health Institute: The Rise of Phantom Obamacare Enrollees: Biden COVID Credits Drive Massive Increase in Individual Market Enrollees With No Medical Claims – 8/13/25)“According to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 39% of the people who signed up for 2025 coverage during open enrollment through the federal marketplace got ‘zero premium’ plans.” (The Wall Street Journal: Congress Is Running Out of Time to Decide the Fate of Obamacare Subsidies – 10/19/25)“The rise in phantom enrollees is absent in the small-group market, strongly suggesting it was driven by Biden’s COVID credits.” (Paragon Health Institute: The Rise of Phantom Obamacare Enrollees: Biden COVID Credits Drive Massive Increase in Individual Market Enrollees With No Medical Claims – 8/13/25)Democrats’ expanded Obamacare subsidies reduced eligibility checks, which increased improper and duplicative enrollments:“[I]nsurance brokers have been fudging incomes of people in order to enroll them in government-subsidized plans for which they aren’t eligible, often without their knowledge. The Biden Administration facilitated such fraud by easing income verification and eligibility checks.” (The Wall Street Journal: Editorial: The Phantom Patients of ObamaCare – 8/17/25)There are an estimated 6.4 million enrollees in 2025 “who incorrectly or falsely reported income that would make them eligible for zero-premium plans.” (Paragon Health Institute: Biden’s COVID Credits Are an ObamaCare Expansion That Congress Should Allow To Expire – 9/4/25)“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month found that 1.6 million Americans each month last year were enrolled in both Medicaid and subsidized ObamaCare plans.” (The Wall Street Journal: Editorial: The Phantom Patients of ObamaCare – 8/17/25)PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram