President Trump on Friday told supporters that Democrats will shut down the government over health care in January, after Affordable Health Care (ACA) tax credits are set to expire going into the new year.
“The problem is that Democrats will shut down the government because they are beholden … to the insurance companies,” Trump said at a rally in Rocky Mount, N.C. “So I don’t know what they can do about it, but they’ll probably close down the government. It’s so simple.”
Trump claimed Democrats “demanded” the deep increase in ACA premiums spiking next year. He said he wanted credit for referring to the ACA as the “Unaffordable Care Act.”
“But it was always no good, but now it’s really gone,” Trump said. “Remember, I didn’t do this. This is ObamaCare, this is ObamaCare. This isn’t Trump. But you don’t need it.”
Trump referred to health insurance companies as “big monster companies.” He said Americans will have “great health care at the right price, and you’re going to have it.” He touted that he will meet with insurance company leaders “and maybe we’ll have the same help with the health companies, with the pharmaceuticals and the drug companies, that we have.”
“So rather than just saying, ‘We’re not going to deal,’ maybe they’ll give us a deal by cutting prices by 50 percent, and maybe this makes sense,” the president continued.
Trump also promoted TrumpRX, a forthcoming direct-to-consumer platform that the administration says will let patients buy drugs at lower prices and bypass working with insurance companies.
The rally was part of a series of stops Trump plans to make across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to sell his administration’s success to voters. Republicans hope relying on Trump will help them keep their majorities in both the House and the Senate. The worry is that Trump not being on the ballot could impact those majorities.
“When President Trump is on the ballot, Republicans tend to do well. When he’s not on the ballot, Republicans don’t do as well,” Matt Terrill, a Republican strategist who served as chief of staff on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, previously told The Hill.
The rally campaign kicked off in Pennsylvania last week, with Trump crediting White House chief of staff Susie Wiles for saying he needed to “start campaigning.”
Democrats could have the momentum to use the Jan. 30 government funding deadline to force Republicans to make concessions on federal health care spending, as they did during the 43-day shutdown between October and November. Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that the “fight is not over” after Republicans failed to pass a bill to extend the ACA subsidies.
An estimated 4.8 million Americans will lose their health care coverage in 2026 due to the expiration of the ACA subsidies. Over 20 million will see their monthly health care costs skyrocket.