The Washington Post | November 16, 2025
By Dan Diamond and Paige Winfield Cunningham
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**Lawmakers Rush Toward Mid-December Deadline Amid Health Care Standoff**
President Donald Trump has once again promised a “far better and far less expensive” alternative to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as Republicans scramble to deliver on that pledge. With a mid-December deadline looming, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are racing to hold dueling health care votes.
For weeks, during the longest government shutdown in history, Trump avoided negotiating with Democrats over the health care issues at the heart of their standoff. Now, Republicans hope to present side-by-side legislation alongside Democrats’ plan to extend ACA subsidies that are set to expire next month.
Democrats maintain that the simplest and most popular solution is to extend the ACA subsidies. Analysts warn that if the program ends, millions of people—many residing in states that supported Trump—could forgo health insurance.
Even the president’s own pollster has cautioned that failing to extend these subsidies would pose a significant political risk for the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections.
However, rather than endorsing the Democrats’ proposal, President Trump argues that billions of dollars currently allocated for ACA subsidies should be redirected away from health insurers and toward the general public, potentially through untaxed health savings accounts.
Many health economists have sharply criticized Trump’s plan, warning it could trigger a “death spiral” in ACA marketplaces. They explain that healthy individuals may choose to drop coverage and instead use subsidies to pay out of pocket for limited health care needs, leaving sicker individuals behind and causing premiums to skyrocket.
This scenario echoes familiar challenges. Lawmakers and experts acknowledge the seemingly endless debate surrounding the 15-year-old health law, Republicans’ long-standing struggle to deliver an alternative that can pass Congress, and the recurrence of obstacles that defined Trump’s first term in office.
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*Excerpt*
Read more at [washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com)
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**Topics:** Health, Medicine
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*Disclaimer:* Opinions expressed are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Free Republic or its management.
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