Rep. Mike Lawler told Newsmax on Thursday he backed an effort with Democrats to force a House vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits set to expire at the end of the month, arguing that allowing the subsidies to lapse without reforms would drive up costs for millions of Americans.
Speaking live on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" from Capitol Hill, the New York Republican said the ACA has "failed to address the issue of healthcare affordability," noting that premiums have risen "96% nationwide" since the law took effect.
He said the COVID-era enhanced subsidies currently have the federal government covering about "88% of the premiums," and that expiration would drop that to roughly "78%" for many enrollees, still leaving what he called an unaffordable system as premiums continue to rise.
Lawler said his vote was part of a "dual track" approach: temporarily extend the enhanced credits while enacting conservative-oriented reforms, including income limits so high earners are not subsidized, ending "zero premium plans," and cracking down on insurers he claimed have increased profits "by about 2,000%."
He said he and other lawmakers, including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., had pushed a bipartisan reform package but could not secure agreement from GOP leadership to bring it to the floor.
"We all want to fix this broken system that, by the way, Democrats created. They're saying that this is a Republican affordability crisis. They're the ones who passed into law Obamacare," he added.
With talks stalled, Lawler said the four Republicans signed a discharge petition "for the purpose of forcing a vote" and sending the issue to the Senate, where he expects lawmakers to return a reform package.
Lawler rejected the idea that the move was a rebellion against Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., framing it instead as an effort to prevent a premium "spike" for an estimated "22 million" people and insisting, "You can't just turn off the spigot without a plan to replace it and fix it."
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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