Democrats are screaming that Republicans want to take away your healthcare subsidies.

Here’s what they’re not telling you: Those subsidies are designed to enrich insurance companies, not help patients. And they’re the reason premiums keep going up.

Rep. August Pfluger, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, broke it down in an interview with Breitbart’s Alex Marlow:

“We think that it is giving a blank check to the insurance companies. We know that there’s a correlation between this blank check approach and raising the premiums.”

The subsidies don’t go to you. They go to insurance companies — who then raise premiums because they know the government will cover the increase.

It’s a scam. And Democrats designed it that way.

The 90% Number Democrats Don’t Want You to Know

Here’s the fact that destroys the Democratic fearmongering:

“Ninety percent of the subsidies will remain in place regardless of what we do. They’re locked in. They’re permanent.”

The COVID-era enhanced subsidies expiring December 31st represent only 10% of total Obamacare subsidies. The vast majority of assistance isn’t going anywhere.

But Democrats won’t tell you that. They want you terrified. They want you believing Republicans are snatching healthcare from millions of Americans.

The truth? Republicans are trying to reform the top 10% of subsidies — the enhanced COVID-era payments that were always supposed to be temporary — because those subsidies are making the entire system more expensive.

The Premium Spiral Was Designed This Way

Pfluger didn’t sugarcoat it:

“Premiums are going up. That’s 100 percent — that’s the way they designed the program. Obamacare, and premiums, and the cost of health care will go up.”

This isn’t a bug. It’s a feature.

Insurance companies know the government will subsidize higher premiums. So they raise premiums. The government covers the increase with more subsidies. Which gives insurance companies room to raise premiums again.

It’s a spiral that benefits exactly two groups: insurance company shareholders and Democratic politicians who get to claim they’re “helping” people with healthcare costs they made worse.

Everyone else? You’re paying higher taxes to fund subsidies that go to corporations who use them as an excuse to charge you more.

Even Democrats Couldn’t Stomach Making This Permanent

Here’s a telling detail:

“As recent as 2021, Democrats tried to make this permanent. They tried to pass permanence of the COVID-era emergency subsidies, and they couldn’t do it. Not even Democrats could stomach it.”

When your own party won’t vote to make your policy permanent, that tells you something. Even Democrats recognized that locking in these enhanced subsidies forever was fiscally insane.

Now they’re pretending the expiration is a Republican attack on healthcare. It’s the expiration they themselves agreed to because they knew the policy couldn’t be sustained.

The Republican Alternative Actually Lowers Premiums

Republicans aren’t just saying no. They have a plan — the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.

What it does:

• Increases transparency for pharmacy benefit managers (the middlemen driving up drug costs)
• Expands Association Health Plans so self-employed workers and membership organizations can create their own insurance pools
• Protects small businesses from catastrophic claims
• Lets employers offer defined contributions so workers can choose their own insurance

The Congressional Budget Office — which historically scores Republican healthcare ideas harshly — found this package lowers premiums by 11 percent and saves $35.6 billion.

Eleven percent lower premiums. Not through more subsidies to insurance companies. Through actual structural reform that increases competition and transparency.

The Political Trap Republicans Walked Into

Pfluger acknowledged the challenge:

“They designed this system, they voted for it. We didn’t. They know the cost is going up. They understand that very well.”

Yet somehow, Democrats have made healthcare their 2026 issue — even though every problem with the system stems from policies they created and passed without a single Republican vote.

“Not a single Republican the last 15 years had voted for any Democrat plan on health care,” Pfluger reminded listeners.

Republicans didn’t create Obamacare. Republicans didn’t design the subsidy structure that enriches insurance companies. Republicans didn’t pass the COVID-era enhancements that are now expiring.

But Republicans are letting Democrats blame them for the mess.

Trump Will Get Involved — He Has To

Pfluger predicted the president will eventually weigh in:

“He’s a businessman. He’s focused on affordability. That’s been his whole mantra… He’s an employer himself. He was in the service industry, so he knows very well the challenges that Americans are facing.”

Trump stayed hands-off while Congress worked on the healthcare provisions in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” But healthcare is too important politically to ignore.

Democrats want to make 2026 about healthcare costs. Republicans need to flip that narrative — make it about how Democratic policies created the cost crisis, and Republican reforms are fixing it.

That requires presidential involvement. Trump’s ability to communicate directly with voters could cut through the Democratic fearmongering in ways congressional Republicans can’t.

The Communication Challenge That Will Define 2026

Pfluger laid out the stakes:

“If we had not passed the One Big, Beautiful Bill, Americans would have seen the largest tax increase in the history of this country. But we did, and real money will be flowing back to every American as a result of that. We have to communicate that in 2026.”

Republicans passed tax cuts. They’re passing healthcare reforms that lower premiums. They’re putting money back in Americans’ pockets.

But none of it matters if Democrats successfully convince voters that Republicans are the ones making their lives harder.

The policy is right. The communication has to catch up.

The Bottom Line: Follow the Money

When Democrats scream about healthcare subsidies, ask one question: Where does the money go?

It goes to insurance companies. Who raise premiums. Which requires more subsidies. Which go to insurance companies. Who raise premiums again.

The subsidies aren’t helping patients. They’re enriching corporations while making the underlying system more expensive for everyone.

Republicans want to break that cycle. Democrats want to preserve it — because it gives them a political issue and their insurance company donors a guaranteed revenue stream.

That’s the choice in 2026. Blank checks to corporations, or actual reform that lowers costs.

The question is whether Republicans can make voters understand that before Democrats finish rewriting history.