In a social media post, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, for wrongly saying that Affordable Care Act premiums would at least double for “over 20 million Americans” if enhanced subsidies expire. They would more than double on average, not for all of those 20 million people. Johnson glossed over the higher out-of-pocket premiums, saying that the “subsidies will likely increase, not decrease.”
In the shutdown standoff over expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, Democrats emphasize thousand-dollar premium increases for middle- or “working-class” Americans, while Republicans say people who are well-off unfairly benefit from the subsidies.
Sen. Rand Paul, who opposes the Senate health care bill, says subsidies “are actually greater under the Republican bill than they are under the current Obamacare law.” But the CBO says the average subsidy under the bill would be “significantly lower than the average subsidy under current law.”