But as the year comes to an end, Speaker Mike Johnson and his GOP leadership team have decided not to act. Last week, House Republicans unveiled what they described as a “plan” to address rising costs, which was actually more of a hodgepodge of loosely connected conservative ideas than a serious, cohesive policy proposal.,,

With House members heading home until the new year, the developments practically guarantee that Republicans will allow the current insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to expire at midnight on Dec. 31. Though precise tallies vary, independent analyses show that the change will punish between 22 million and 24 million American consumers.

To hear the House speaker tell it, that’s just not that many people.

MIKE JOHNSON: Here's the false narrative -- Democrats are pretending as though this affects everybody in the country. It affects 7% of Americans, this extended subsidy

CNBC: But we are talking 22 to 24 million Americans

JOHNSON: We're going to help 100% of Americans reduce their premiums

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-12-17T14:44:34.001Z

....Soon after, at a Capitol Hill press conference, Congress’ top Republican read from a prepared text and said, “The Democrats’ subsidy proposal would only lower premiums for a small subset of people. Now, think of this: just 7% of America case would benefit.”

Note, Johnson isn’t denying the accuracy of the assessment. Rather, the speaker wants to recontextualize the data: Sure, between 22 million and 24 million health care consumers will soon struggle to afford coverage, and sure, that includes many small business owners, but why make a fuss? It’s a big country, with 342 million people, and 24 million is “just” 7% of 342 million.

Six days ago, a reporter asked Donald Trump, “At the end of this year, those extended Obamacare subsidies expire. What’s your message to those 24 million Americans who will see their insurance premiums go up?”

The president replied, “Don’t make it sound so bad.”