Via RealClear Investigations: Biden’s Obamacare Expansions Could Cost Another $383 Billion
The Biden-Harris Administration has radically expanded Obamacare through unilateral executive actions and two partisan Democrat reconciliation spending bills.
In fact, since the Biden-Harris Administration took office, the cost of Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies has nearly doubled from $68 billion in 2021 to $125 billion in 2024, fueling our $35 trillion national debt.
Responding to a letter from House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it will cost over $383 billion to make the Biden-Harris Administration’s expanded Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies permanent.
A recent RealClear Investigations editorial argues that lawmakers should be focused on finding affordable healthcare solutions that stop increasing the nearly $35 trillion in national debt. Spending more money to prop up the Obamacare program has only delivered higher prices and reduced quality of care to patients.
Word on the Street:
Via Adam Andrzejewski in RealClear Investigations:
- “President Joseph Biden’s recent decision to offer Obamacare to some “Dreamers” will increase the federal deficit by an estimated $7 billion in the next 10 years, according to new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.”
- “Other proposed changes to Obamacare could cost the federal government another $383 billion over 10 years, if enacted.”
- “Biden announced in May that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients — people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally as minors before June 2007 — can now get benefits from the Affordable Care Act, changing the Obama administration’s policy.”
- “In 2021, Biden’s pandemic stimulus package offered Obamacare to more people than ever and gave existing consumers extra financial assistance.”
- “The increased spending was supposed to end in one year, but Biden extended it to 2025. The president’s latest budget request to Congress calls for the expansion to be made permanent.”
- “That would give Obamacare to 6.9 million new people at a cost of $383 billion between 2025 and 2034, the CBO estimates. Half of those people would not have insurance otherwise, but the other half would enroll in Obamacare when they could have used insurance offered by their employer, the CBO predicts.”
- “Critical quote: “The ACA premium tax credit expansion needlessly spent well over $100 billion of tax dollars for a minimal reduction in the number of uninsured,” Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Jason Smith (R-MO) wrote in a letter to the CBO. “It is particularly concerning that … some of our nation’s highest earners are now eligible for government assistance. In certain areas of the country, a family making as much as $599,000 in 2023 could qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies.”
- “Summary: Affordable healthcare is one of the most important issues facing the U.S., but we need solutions that don’t increase our already-insurmountable debt.”
The Bottom Line:
The American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2) spent an estimated $34 billion to temporarily increase the amount of the premium tax credit subsidies for Obamacare plans while also removing the 400 percent of federal poverty level income limit on eligibility for the subsidies through Calendar Year 2022.
Subsequently, the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (P.L. 117-169) spent an estimated $64 billion to extend the expanded ACA subsidies through Calendar Year 2025.
Furthermore, the Biden-Harris Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request included a policy to make permanent the expanded Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies at an estimated cost of $383 billion over ten years.
Unfortunately, the expanded Obamacare subsidies have provided taxpayer subsidies to some of the wealthiest Americans. In some areas of the country, high-income families making as much as $599,000 in 2023 could qualify for these taxpayer-funded subsidies.
To make matters worse, on May 3rd, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration unilaterally expanded Obamacare eligibility to include illegal immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at a cost of $7 billion to taxpayers.
More from the House Budget Committee:
Read more on House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington’s (R-TX) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith’s (R-MO) request for analysis of the Biden-Harris plan to make permanent the expanded Obamacare subsidies HERE.
Read more about CBO’s confirmation of the debt driving cost of making Obamacare subsidies permanent HERE.
