Speaker Johnson ekes out healthcare bill victory after House GOP Obamacare rebellion
A Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the bill could reduce costs by 11%
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published December 17, 2025 6:32pm EST
House Republicans passed a bill they say will lower healthcare costs for a broad swath of Americans by roughly 11%.
It's a victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has been managing deep divisions within the House GOP on the topic of healthcare as insurance premiums are set to spike across the country in a matter of weeks.
One glaring issue that remains unresolved is Obamacare subsidies, which were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic but are set to expire at the end of this year.
The legislation passed 216 to 211. Just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against it along with all House Democrats.
The bill's passage comes hours after a group of moderate Republicans joined a Democrat-led discharge petition to force a vote on extending the subsidies for another three years.
A discharge petition is a mechanism for overriding the will of House leaders to get a chamberwide vote on specific legislation, provided it has support from a majority of lawmakers. It sets up the legislation for a vote sometime in the new year.
Each of the four House Republicans made clear that backing Democrats' bill was not their first choice, but they felt they were left with few options after Johnson made clear this week that there would not be a separate vote on extending the subsidies before the end of this year.
But the majority of House Republicans are against extending the subsidies, at least without significant reforms. Conservatives have argued the subsidies amount to throwing more money at a long-broken system that does little to tackle the actual cost of healthcare.
"Obamacare has been an unmitigated disaster for 15 years, crushing families with high premiums and rampant fraud while enriching insurance companies. It's time for conservatives to get serious about advancing policies that can become law and therefore actually reduce costs," Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, who called the House bill a "solid first step," told Fox News Digital.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/speaker-johnson-ekes-out-healthcare-bill-victory-after-house-gop-obamacare-rebellion
