Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Newsmax on Thursday that Senate Republicans were right to reject Democrats’ push to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies, warning that continuing the program would amount to endorsing tens of billions in waste and abuse each year.
Johnson appeared on “The Chris Salcedo Show” hours after Senate Republicans voted down a bill to extend the Obamacare subsidies.
Four Republicans voted with Democrats, but the measure was defeated, 51-48.
Johnson said Republicans held firm despite what he called intense political pressure, Democrat “lies,” and media support for extending the expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies, which were first boosted under pandemic-era spending bills.
Johnson applauded Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., for steering the internal GOP discussion and bringing in experts to detail what he called widespread fraud within the ACA exchange system.
“It’s actually good news,” Johnson told host Chris Salcedo. “I give Sen. Rick Scott a great deal of credit using his steering committee lunch, bringing healthcare experts, just talking about all the fraud.”
Johnson pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office investigation that tested the system by attempting to enroll fictitious applicants in federally subsidized Obamacare plans.
The outcome, he said, was shocking even to longtime critics of the ACA.
“The GAO report was extremely helpful when you see that they signed up 24 fraudulent — or tried to sign up 24 fraudulent — enrollees in Obamacare and 23 were signed up, 18 were still getting subsidies as of September 2025,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, that investigation illustrates what Republicans have long argued: that the ACA’s subsidy structure is vulnerable to widespread abuse and that federal agencies have failed to implement even the most basic verification safeguards.
“So again, it’s massive fraud,” he said. “Anybody that would vote to extend those enhanced subsidies would vote to extend about $27 billion of fraud per year.”
Democrats have argued that the enhanced subsidies are necessary to maintain affordability for millions of Americans purchasing health insurance on the exchanges.
But Johnson countered that the debate cannot ignore what he described as systemic vulnerabilities — vulnerabilities that could cost taxpayers tens of billions annually if left unaddressed.
“Give the GOP credit,” Johnson said. “As much political pressure, as much as the Democrats are lying, as much as the media was backing them up, we said we simply cannot vote to perpetuate that fraud.”
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