Parsing the Rhetoric on ACA Subsidies

In a social media post, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, for wrongly saying that Affordable Care Act premiums would at least double for “over 20 million Americans” if enhanced subsidies expire. They would more than double on average, not for all of those 20 million people. Johnson glossed over the higher out-of-pocket premiums, saying that the “subsidies will likely increase, not decrease.”

The Wisconsin senator essentially invited us to weigh in on this, writing, “Calling all fact checkers!” in his Nov. 11 post on X. We’ll explain what Sanders got wrong and what Johnson left out about the enhanced tax credits, which are due to expire at the end of the year.