A WARNING FROM THE SPEAKER
Johnson’s argument rests on a sharp contrast: Democrats, he says, chose to preserve temporary
subsidies that keep premiums lower on paper while funneling guaranteed payments to big insurers.
Republicans, by his telling, wanted structural reforms to drive prices down by double digits,
but saw those efforts gutted in last-minute negotiations to keep the government open.
For him, that wasn’t a technical policy tweak; it was a moral line.
As the Senate presses ahead with its own funding package,
Johnson is positioning the coming months as a referendum on what “affordable” really means.
With Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring at year’s end,
he warns that simply extending them again is a political Band-Aid on a system that keeps getting more expensive.
He’s promising a renewed push for broader, bipartisan reforms —
and betting that frustrated families will side with those demanding deeper change over those defending the status quo.
