When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt got up to speak this week, she probably thought it’d be the usual back-and-forth. But she made a much bigger blunder. Right after the Senate shot down efforts to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, Leavitt admitted Donald Trump‘s team has no plan to prevent people’s health costs from skyrocketing.
Millions of voters (even Republican ones) could see their health insurance bills shoot up in 2026. Premiums could be more than double. Right now, the average person with subsidies pays about $888 a year, but experts say that could jump to $1,904. That’s a 114% spike and obviously way worse than regular inflation.
In the briefing room, Karoline Leavitt was going off about how Democrats “created” the problem, but the press weren’t buying it. Does the administration have a plan ready before subsidies expire on January 1st?
She insisted:
“You’re going to (…) hear more from the President and Republicans.”
Reporter: But the subsidies are expiring at the end of the year. What is the plan?
Leavitt: You’ll hear more from the president on that very soon…
Let me be clear there is NO PLAN!
It’s been coming in two weeks for years!#RepublicanHealthCareFailure pic.twitter.com/iGKaj6M2ih
— Skyleigh Uhrich (@Sky_Lee_1) December 11, 2025
The month-long government shutdown wrapped up with Democrats preserving those extra Obamacare subsidies from the pandemic that made healthcare cheaper. A new KFF poll found that even 72% of Republicans (including MAGA loyalists) want those discounts to stick around. 95% Democrats are already on board, and over 9 million Republicans are enrolled in ACA plans.
But Capitol Hill’s backup idea (expansion of health savings accounts) flopped. Then the Trump team yanked their own plan because everyone was too busy fighting. Meanwhile, the Senate shot down the Democrats’ bill to keep subsidies going for another three years, so premiums are about to skyrocket. Texas, Mississippi, and West Virginia saw enrollments blow up after subsidies kicked in in 2021. Without that help, several people might get priced out. A quarter of enrollees say they would ditch their insurance coverage if premiums double.
Texas barber-shop owner Belinda Hernandez and her husband are shelling out $215 a month for insurance. Their provider said the price would rise to over $700! After scrambling to find something cheaper, she will still have to pay $354.
She asked CNN:
“How much more can a family cut back?”
As Trump spends billions on everything but working families, Republicans are all but guaranteeing that healthcare costs will skyrocket. They don’t care about making your life more affordable, they only care about lining their pockets and doing Trump’s bidding.…
— Juliana Stratton (@JulianaStratton) December 11, 2025
Yet Karoline Leavitt sounded annoyed when reporters pushed for actual details. She said Republicans would roll out “creative solutions” soon. But that doesn’t help the 24 million people sweating it out. Meanwhile, Democrats (like Chuck Schumer) are up in arms, and Republicans are saying that subsidies are just band-aids on Obamacare’s issues.
So yes, premiums are expected to rise in 2026, but will voters remember who let that happen?
