Mike Johnson is betting that anger over soaring healthcare costs will outlast the shutdown drama. He says House Republicans tucked a reform into their One Big Beautiful Bill that, by his account, would have cut premiums by 12.7%, only to see Democrats strip it out while demanding an unreformed extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. To Johnson, that’s the quiet scandal: a system he calls “broken” being propped up with more taxpayer money and no structural change, while families watch premiums and deductibles climb.
Democrats, he argues, are protecting insurers; Republicans, he insists, want to confront root causes and stop “throwing good money” at failure. With ACA subsidies set to expire Dec. 31 and a temporary funding deal only buying weeks, the next round of negotiations will decide whether Congress chooses another short-term patch—or a bruising fight over what real reform actually means.
