Petition to Oppose Extension of ACA Subsidies without Hyde Protections
Dear Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader John Thune,
Since its passage in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, has authorized funding for insurance plans that cover abortion. Over time, some states have also used the ACA to subsidize costly and controversial gender transition procedures (GTPs). Many insurance providers now classify these procedures as "medically necessary," despite the lack of FDA approval for the drugs used in them.
To offset the ACA's high costs, Congress approved taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2014 to help pay insurance premiums. Then, during the COVID pandemic in 2021, Democrats expanded those subsidies -- dramatically increasing federal spending on healthcare.
Although Democrats voted for these COVID-era subsidies to expire at the end of 2025, they recently attempted to tie their renewal to government funding -- demanding an additional $1.5 trillion in new healthcare spending. Their refusal to compromise caused the longest government shutdown in U.S. history -- leaving air traffic controllers, SNAP recipients, and other federal workers unpaid.
We urge you to stand firm. Let the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies expire as planned. If an extension is considered, it must include explicit Hyde Amendment protections and similar safeguards to ensure that no taxpayer dollars fund abortion or gender transition procedures.
