“People will die”: Senate deadlocked as ACA subsidies are set to expire

The Senate was in gridlock on Thursday, with two proposals meant to combat rising health care costs were shot down, mainly along party lines.

Democrats championed a plan to extend health care subsidies for three years, even getting four Republican senators to join them. It still wasn’t enough for the required 60 votes and was rejected by Republicans. A competing plan from Republicans called for direct payments of up to $1,500 for people to buy the most basic health coverage options met a similar end at the hands of the Democrats.

The failure to pass a plan effectively leaves the health care subsidies to expire at the end of the year. With only one week left in the current Senate session, senators are loudly criticizing their political counterparts for the impasse.

“This vote was designed to fail,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said in a post on X. “I want to vote on a bill that could PASS and deliver TRUE affordable health care…Let’s stop playing games and deliver actual relief,” Fetterman wrote.  

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she was “angry” at Republicans. “They voted to increase health care costs across the board,” Warren said in a video statement, criticizing Republicans for “falling in line behind [President] Donald Trump.”

“It is truly shameful,” Warren said.

Start your day with essential news from Salon.Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S.D., blasted the Democratic plan for creating “a higher cost for the American taxpayer.”

“If we extend this three years at a cost of $83 billion to the taxpayers, what happens after three years?” Thune asked Wednesday on the Senate floor. He was joined by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who called the vote a “missed opportunity.” 

“Democrats insisted on extending the same policies that have led to rampant fraud and higher premiums,” Crapo said in a statement. “Democrats know that Obamacare has failed.”  

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., was blunt in his assessment of the effects of the expiring of subsidies on the American people, calling the vote “one of the most consequential” of the year. “This is life or death,” Ossoff said. “People will die.”