Trump reveals whether he’ll support extension of expiring Obamacare tax credits

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he won’t support an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits that will expire soon.

If the credits expire as scheduled at the end of 2025, premiums for about 22 million Americans will soar, in some cases by thousands of dollars, according to NBC News.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, originally passed in 2010. Trump and Republicans have long criticized the law, but past efforts to repeal it failed.

“The only healthcare I will support or approve is sending the money directly back to the people,” Trump wrote Tuesday in all caps on social media, saying he won’t accept a continuation of the Affordable Care Act structure where the funds are provided to insurance companies to keep premiums down, according to NBC. “Congress, do not waste your time and energy on anything else.”

The expiring tax credits were at the heart of the government shutdown that began in October. Democrats demanded that Republicans agree to extend the credits in exchange for their votes to fund the government.

The shutdown became the longest in U.S. history. It ended when a group of Democrats in the Senate eventually split with their party and agreed to support a funding bill.

The deal included a promise for a vote on extending the credits, but no guarantee on the outcome.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives argued strongly against extending the subsidies in a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday, according to NBC. Leaders have instead been pushing for alternatives that would give funds directly to people.

Options could include health savings accounts, flexible savings accounts or even direct cash payments, according to NBC.

Some Republicans are frustrated with the approach.

“Doing nothing on health care is not the right answer,” Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Virginia Republican, told NBC News. “I would really appreciate if we could have a timeline because we know that the end of the calendar year is coming, and I don’t want to see people’s premiums go up. I don’t want to see people lose their health insurance.”

During the conference meeting, Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas complained that Republicans could have been working on their own plan “for months,” rather than waiting until just weeks before the credits expire, according to NBC.

The subsidies originally passed in 2021 through a pandemic-era law and were later extended. They will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress acts, according to CBS News.

An analysis from health policy site KFF found that low- and middle-income households that previously qualified for the credits would likely see their Affordable Care Act premiums more than double next year, according to CBS. The average will likely increase from $888 in 2025 to more than $1,900 in 2026.

An estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that the higher costs will likely lead about 4 million people to drop health insurance, according to CBS.