The U.S. Senate failed to pass either party’s health care bill on Thursday:
- Republican bill (Health Care Freedom for Patients Act): No Democrats supported it. It would have replaced enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits with Health Savings Account contributions and funded cost-sharing reductions. Four Republicans (Hawley, Sullivan, Murkowski, Collins) crossed over to vote for the Democrats’ bill instead.
- Democratic bill (Lower Health Care Costs Act): A three-year extension of the current enhanced premium tax credits. It failed because most Republicans opposed the $83 billion deficit increase and argued it would just pour more money into a broken, fraud-ridden system without reforms.
▫ Senate Rejects Dual Healthcare Bills AS Obamacare Tax Credits Expiration Nears
— 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 📰 (@ukpapers) December 12, 2025
▫Votes came as premium tax credits for estimated 21.8 million enrolees of plans set to expire at end of month
▫@ChrisJStein
▫https://t.co/SqfYfvw54e#GuardianUS #digital #frontpagestoday #USA… pic.twitter.com/B1Ux59H5hs
As a result, the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits are now set to expire at the end of 2025, meaning millions of Americans will face significantly higher premiums starting in 2026.Both sides are blaming each other:
- Democrats (e.g., Sen. Patty Murray) accuse Republicans of “health care sabotage” by blocking the extension.
- Republicans (e.g., Sens. Boozman and Cassidy, House Speaker Johnson) say Democrats are propping up a wasteful, fraudulent system that funnels taxpayer money straight to insurance companies, citing a recent GAO report that found systemic fraud risk (over 90% of fake applicants were approved).
In short: Partisan gridlock ensures major premium increases in 2026, with each side accusing the other of prioritizing politics and insurance industry profits over real reform.
Republican Bill to pass money to Americans was killed by one vote short
🚨BREAKING: U.S. Senate REJECTS Republican-proposed solution for Obamacare 51-48
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) December 11, 2025
This would have given money directly to the American people in HSA accounts as opposed to giving it directly to big insurance companies.
This bill was backed by President Trump. pic.twitter.com/460qvB9pPe
The vote on S. 3384 was a final passage vote on the bill itself (following successful cloture), requiring a simple majority of 50 votes out of 100 senators to pass. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Vice President JD Vance could have cast a tie-breaking vote in favor. The bill failed on a 48-51 vote, falling short by 2 votes.
47 Democrats (plus 2 independents caucusing with them) voted nay, totaling 49 nays from that side.
Of the 53 Republicans, 48 voted yea, while the following 5 voted nay, joining the opposition to defeat the bill despite its endorsement by President Trump: – Susan Collins (R-ME) – Rand Paul (R-KY) – Thom Tillis (R-NC) – Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) – Mitt Romney (R-UT).