ARLINGTON, VA—As Congress prepares to vote on reinstating Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years, it is critical that the American people understand what this decision means for them. The President was clear on November 18th, 2025 when he said on a Truth Social post: “THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I WILL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE,” the President wrote.
In a recent blog post, Dean Clancy, Senior Policy Fellow at Americans for Prosperity, outlines why President Trump is right, and why Republicans in Congress can’t afford to miss the best opportunity they have had in decades to deliver a major win for Americans on health care affordability.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a Democratic bill that would massively expand Obamacare. They claim it’s vital to making health care more affordable. But the opposite is true.
Recall that Democrats created Obamacare and expanded it during the pandemic. Now they want to expand it again. No Republican voted for any of that. And they shouldn’t start now.
Not having a plan to make health care affordable is a luxury congressional Republicans can no longer afford. Americans are demanding health care affordability.
Happily, the GOP is starting to forge a plan. And that should make Democrats nervous.
The conventional wisdom holds “Republicans lose every health care debate.” And Democrats are counting on that axiom to remain true as they seek to retake the gavels in the U.S. House and Senate in 2026.
But this time feels different.
Three new factors have reshuffled the deck on the important health care issue: (1) voters’ desperate desire for affordability, (2) the manifest failure of Obamacare to produce affordability, and (3) the political prowess of Donald J. Trump.
President Trump’s “fund people, not insurers” rallying cry, reiterated in a December 17th national address, has created an opening for Republicans to go on offense with real reforms that provide real relief from high health care prices — something the Democratic plan to bail out the failed Obamacare program doesn’t even try to do.
As we’ll see, the list of such sensible reforms is long. Republicans just need to enact them, or at least force Democrats to vote on them, so voters can see and choose.
In his December 17th speech, the president renewed his call to fund tax-free Health Savings Accounts as an alternative to the Democrat’s demand that Congress extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that Democrats added during the pandemic.
Those extra subsidies expired on January 1st.
Reinstating them retroactively wouldn’t reduce health insurance prices by even one whit, but it would fuel fraud and cost taxpayers nearly $30 billion a year, every penny of which would go straight to health insurers.
Instead, the president said, “I want the money to go directly to the people, so you can buy your own health care. You’ll get much better health care at a much lower price.”
He’s right. Directly funding tax-free HSAs is a much better idea than propping up a broken system that is the main driver of premium increases. Under the “Affordable” Care Act, health insurance premiums have tripled and deductibles have doubled.
By contrast, HSAs reduce prices by enabling people to shop for value. Just as we see at the grocery store and the gas station, prices get lower and more transparent when consumers are armed with the dollars and the power to choose, unhindered by third-party meddling. Since every HSA purchase brings the equivalent of a 25 percent discount, thanks to the generous tax treatment, and unspent funds roll over and grow from year to year, people will have powerful incentives to seek out value. That will reduce prices.
And here’s a bonus: HSAs enable people to obtain care and doctors their insurance doesn’t cover. Under Obamacare, access to doctors has shrunk, wait times have reached historic highs, and insurer claim-denial rates have grown tenfold. ACA insurers deny 20 percent of claims. HSAs free people from all those hassles.
Read more in Clancy’s latest blog Post here: Trump has Shown Republicans How to Win on Health Care. They Should Seize the Moment.
Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. AFP recruits and unites activists in all 50 states behind a common goal of advancing policies that will help people improve their lives. For more information, visit www.AmericansForProsperity.org
###
© 2026 AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | PRIVACY POLICY
Receive email alerts to learn how to get involved
