President Donald Trump delayed an announcement of a plan to extend ACA tax credits.Yuri Gripas/CNP/Zuma
After teasing a plan by President Donald Trump to extend Affordable Care Act premium subsidies—currently on track to end within weeks—the White House has indefinitely delayed the announcement under pressure from congressional Republicans, MS NOW reported on Monday.
The last-minute change of plan signals the GOP’s priorities: the party has fought to cut or repeal the ACA since it entered law in 2010, and was uncompromising in opposing the subsidies during the record-breaking government shutdown that ended earlier in November.
“I don’t see how a proposal like this has any chance of getting majority Republican support,” an anonymous House Republican told MS NOW. “We need to be focused on health care, but extending Obamacare isn’t even serious.”
Unless a deal is reached, Affordable Care Act tax credits expanded during the Biden administration are set to expire at the end of 2025, which would lead to the largest-ever annual spike in ACA premiums. The enhanced credits led to more signups for health insurance through the ACA marketplace: Nearly 25 million Americans in 2025, more than double the roughly 11 million who used it in 2020, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The last thing Republican elected officials want to see, the Center for American Progress’ Bobby Kagan posted on social media Monday, is a deal that protects ACA subsidies.
“That’s why they didn’t extend them in OBBBA, and that’s why they kept calling them a ‘December problem’ even though open enrollment began on November 1,” Kagan, the group’s senior director for federal budget policy, wrote.
It’s because congressional Republicans want the enhanced subsidies to expire. That’s why they didn’t extend them in OBBBA, and that’s why they kept calling them a “December problem” even though open enrollment began on November 1.
[image or embed]
— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) November 24, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Extending the enhanced ACA credits does have support among everyday Republicans: A November poll by KFF found that, among Republican and Republican-leaning independents, 72 percent who didn’t identify with MAGA—and almost half of MAGA supporters—wanted ACA tax credits to continue.
If Trump doesn’t sign legislation before December 15 to extend ACA tax credits, millions of Americans will be forced to pay far more—often several hundred dollars a month—for health insurance, or forgo it altogether.
