House GOP summons health insurers to Capitol Hill as Obamacare battle escalates

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, both of which have jurisdiction over various aspects of health policy, are each holding hearings on the rising cost of healthcare in the U.S.

It's not immediately clear which companies will be represented or if they will allow executives to appear voluntarily.

Obamacare subsidies were expanded in 2020 and 2021 to be available to more people during the COVID-19 pandemic, but then-Democratic majorities in Congress were only able to extend those for a finite period of time.

Whether to extend those subsidies was the subject of fierce debate on Capitol Hill in the waning months of 2025.

The vast majority of Republicans are opposed to extending the subsidies, dismissing them as a pandemic-era relic that's part of a broken federal healthcare system.

Republicans have also argued that the subsidies only eased costs for 7% of Americans and did nothing to tackle the root causes of high healthcare costs.

But the moderate GOP lawmakers and Democrats who support extending the program have pointed out that an extension would give Congress more time to work on a more permanent solution to healthcare while avoiding the cost cliff seen at the end of last year.

The legislation is likely dead on arrival in the Senate if it passes, however.

Republicans also plan to appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions beginning in 2027, which are designed to lower out-of-pocket medical costs in the individual healthcare market. House GOP leadership aides said it would bring down the cost of premiums by 12%.