Peter Schorsch
National conservative think tank Plymouth Union Public (PUP) Research issued a memo this week calling on Congress to extend premium tax credits that help working families pay for their health care.
“Extending the enhanced tax credits is a free-market policy position and will save billions if paired with tailored Medicaid reforms,” according to the May 6 memo.
Florida has consistently led the nation in enrollments for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with more than 4.2 million residents relying on private exchanges for health care coverage.
Tax credits help bring down the cost of insurance for individuals who participate in the marketplace. However, the credits are scheduled to expire later this year, which would exponentially increase the cost of coverage for working Floridians.
According to Florida Conservatives for Affordable Health Care, a family of four earning $64,400 yearly would be forced to pay $4,300 more for coverage if the tax credits expire. A 60-year-old couple earning $82,000 annually would see an increase in annual premiums of more than $13,500.
“The main goal of the credits was to allow more working Americans to buy private insurance with the assistance of a federal tax credit,” according to PUP Research. “The program was an immense success.”
PUP Research underscores the importance of maintaining access to affordable private insurance, especially as Congress considers cuts to Medicaid.
The U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee is expected to cut Medicaid spending by as much as 11% over the next decade. Such an aggressive move would remove 8.6 million Americans from health coverage.
“Without offering the potential 8.6 million Americans a viable alternative to find health coverage, Republicans could spur a public health crisis with significant political consequences,” states the memo.
The group cited polling conducted in February by President Donald Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio. The survey found that four out of five swing district voters supported extending tax credits for private insurance, and 78% of Trump voters supported extending the health care premium tax credits.
PUP Research is led by Republican consultants with experience working at the Republican National Committee, for then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now U.S. Secretary of State, and the Republican Attorneys General Association.
3 comments
Oscar
May 8, 2025 at 8:49 pm
Tax credits for overpriced rubbish health insurance is the very antithesis of free market policy. Does the ‘clearly doesn’t think tank’ Plymouth Union Public even understand basic economics? Why exactly is it taxpayers obligation to subsidize others health insurance? Again, completely the antithesis of free markets.
JD
May 8, 2025 at 8:56 pm
You clearly didn’t read the article, or if you did, you didn’t understand a word of it. Calling premium tax credits “the antithesis of free market policy” is economic cosplay. Plymouth Union Public Advocacy, a conservative think tank, is advocating for these tax credits precisely because they support market participation and competition. But sure, go ahead and tell the conservative economists they don’t understand basic economics.
The article makes it clear: without the enhanced subsidies, millions of Americans will be priced out of coverage, shrinking the risk pool, raising premiums for everyone else, and destabilizing the private insurance market. That’s not “free market purity”—that’s economic self-sabotage.
And let’s not pretend the health insurance market is some utopia of unfettered capitalism. It’s already distorted by employer subsidies, hospital monopolies, and opaque pricing. Tax credits help correct market failures, expand consumer choice, and reduce government costs in the long run. The think tank even projects $540 billion in savings if paired with sensible reforms.
So no, you’re not defending the free market. You’re defending a fantasy where uninsured people vanish and no one else pays for it. But we do—through higher premiums, crowded ERs, and lost productivity.
Next time, if you’re going to invoke “basic economics,” at least learn the difference between ideology and impact.
Ron Greiner HSA King
May 9, 2025 at 7:26 am
Dave Rexrode was the Executive Director of the Republican Governors Association and not an economist. JD, geez.
Plymouth Union Public Advocacy, which is Dave Rexrode, Dee Duncan, and Scott Will, suckered you into writing a bogus story supporting Obamacare subsidies. The ACA “Extended Subsidies” will pay $4,248 monthly or $50,976 annually for a Charleston, West Virginia, 60-year-old couple with three children earning $200,000 Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). This family pays $0 monthly for Highmark Blue Cross with a ridiculous family deductible of $17,800. BlueCross is raping taxpayers of $50,976 annually for each family who will get nothing unless claims exceed $17,800! (Come on, JD, Blue Cross loves this, but they are scamming the federal taxpayers.)
This family qualifies for $14,000 with President Trump’s failed American Healthcare Act of 2017. The 60-year-old parents qualify for $4,000 each, and the three children qualify for $2,000 each. This tax credit would pay 100% of Allstate’s portable, guaranteed renewable, zero-deductible, Individual Medical (IM) from Allstate Health Solutions, and then deposit $1,904 into the family’s tax-free HSA at the bank at $158 monthly. Now this family has a zero-deductible on inpatient and outpatient benefits, plus Allstate pays in addition to auto insurance. Allstate also boasts a 3-year rate lock, premiums can’t go up.
This is America’s biggest story, and you are being suckered like a fool to write this nonsense. I’m licensed nationwide and enrolled America’s first tax-free Health Savings Account (HSA) in 1996. The tax-free HSA is the centerpiece of Republican Healthcare Reform. Allstate purchased TIME Insurance, America’s oldest health insurance company, and was the first to market tax-free HSAs. Allstate is the only insurance company in the USA, other than the ACA and government plans, with “Child-Only” insurance.
Broward County, Florida, has free insurance for teachers, but if they add a child to the school’s insurance, the school charges $998 monthly. If this teacher adds two children, the cost is $1,753. Allstate’s zero-deductible for a child in Broward County is $110 monthly. Trump’s $2,000 tax credit would pay 100% of the premium of $1,320, and the unused credit is deposited monthly into the child’s HSA at the bank at $56 monthly. Republican Senators Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, and John McCain saved Obamacare in 2017. If Trumpcare had passed, all Florida children would qualify for Allstate’s zero-deductible insurance today in 2025.
If you wrote a real story, then maybe one politician in America would have the courage to support Republican Healthcare Reform. Joe Kaufman running for Congress in the Florida 23rd would be perfect because he believes in free and open markets. Trust me, JD, if you get cancer, you want the security of portable, Guaranteed Renewable, Individual Medical (IM), and all ACA exchange plans last only 12 months. I suggest America’s oldest health insurance company, which is now called Allstate, at Save101.com (Want to argue JD?)