Lawmakers are calling on Trump to cut health care subsidies as Americans face high costs

As 2026 begins, millions of Americans are facing a spike in health care premiums after Congress failed to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. Now lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are working on a bipartisan plan that they say will need President Donald Trump’s blessing.

Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch told the story NPR that he and other senators are working on bipartisan legislation that could be a possible compromise for healthcare.

“We could extend the appropriations for a few years, we could reform it,” Welch said. “You could impose an income cap, you could have a copay, you could impose fines on insurers that commit fraud. You could even introduce some cost-saving reductions that have bipartisan support.”

But for a health care plan to work, Welch says Trump must intervene.

“It would require President Trump to play a major role in this because he has such influence over the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and even the Senate,” Welch added.

Americans are paying an average of 114% more for health care now that subsidies are ending

If BLACK BUSINESS Previously reported, health care premium payments are expected to increase by an average of 114% for the tens of millions of people who take advantage of health insurance tax credits on the Marketplace. The increase comes after temporary tax breaks for adults provided by Congress under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expired on December 31.

Rising healthcare costs were the central issue for Democrats during the longest government shutdown in American history. Republican lawmakers pledged to work with Democrats on a plan to keep health insurance affordable for Americans, but no deal was reached before Congress went home for the holidays.

If NPR points out that Trump has kept aloof from the bitter subsidy battle. Now that the surge is indeed a reality for millions of Americans, Senator Welch believes Trump will have no choice but to step in and help lawmakers come up with a solution.

“A farmer’s premium in Vermont will go from $900 a month to $3,200 a month,” Welch said. “So they’re really going to have sticker shock. There’s going to be a secondary impact because the hospitals, especially in rural areas, are going to lose revenue.”

The Senator is expected to return to Washington DC after recess on January 5, and the House of Representatives will return on January 6.

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