Fact: The Biden COVID Credits were intended to be pandemic-era subsidies only.
The Biden COVID Credits were created by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) in response to the pandemic and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). They were designed to be a temporary expansion of Obamacare (ACA) from their inception during the pandemic and are scheduled to expire in December 2025.
Fact: The Biden COVID Credits benefit big insurance companies, not patients.
Obamacare and Biden COVID Credits are paid directly to insurance companies from the U.S. Treasury. These subsidies to big insurance totaled more than $130 billion in 2025.
Insurance companies received at least $35 billion in subsidies for about 12 million ACA Marketplace enrollees in 2024 who made zero medical claims that year. About 40% of people who were fully subsidized (meaning they paid $0 in premiums) by Biden’s COVID Credits did not make a single claim, even for a checkup or a single prescription. This allows the insurance companies to collect thousands of dollars from the government per enrollee while incurring little to no cost.
Fact: Obamacare is rife with fraud, and Biden COVID Credits promote more fraud.
An estimated 6.4 million individuals were improperly enrolled in Obamacare in 2025, costing the taxpayer $27 billion. Around 62% of enrollees in fully subsidized plans for households claiming to be between 100 and 150% of the federal poverty level were not actually eligible.
Fact: Obamacare premiums will increase, even if Biden’s COVID credits are extended.
Obamacare premiums are expected to rise by 18% on average in 2026. The main drivers are medical costs, labor shortages for skilled healthcare workers, high-cost specialty drugs, tariffs and economic uncertainty, and Biden-era inflation. Increases are not primarily due to the sunset of the Biden COVID Credits.
Fact: The Biden COVID Credits expand taxpayer funding for abortion.
Obamacare and the Biden COVID Credits are not subject to the Hyde Amendment, the protection against abortion funding in other health programs. The expansion of subsidies under the Biden COVID Credits has increased taxpayer funding for elective abortions.
Fact: The Biden COVID Credits subsidize gender transition procedures.
Obamacare and the Biden COVID Credits provide taxpayer subsidies for a variety of gender transition procedures, including for children and registered sex offenders.
Fact: Households making over $500K a year are eligible for Biden COVID Credits.
The Biden COVID Credits temporarily removed the income cap on Obamacare, allowing subsidies to households earning more than $500,000.
Fact: Biden COVID Credits pass the entire cost of Obamacare plans onto taxpayers for millions of enrollees.
The expanded subsidies allowed fully subsidized Obamacare plans for 9 million individuals (42% of enrollees).
Fact: The Biden COVID Credits would cost more than some federal agencies.
The Biden COVID Credits are projected to cost a total of $410 billion, including interest, over the next decade. For comparison, that is triple the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s budget and larger than the budgets of the National Parks Service and U.S. Department of the Interior combined.
Fact: Obamacare is still in place even if the Biden COVID Credits expire.
Even if the COVID-era add-on subsidies are allowed to expire on time, the generous original Obamacare subsidies will remain in place for households that meet the original income thresholds and are properly enrolled. Removing the Biden COVID Credits will not impact the Obamacare structure. Taxpayers will continue to cover 80% of the premiums for a typical enrollee.
Fact: No Republican has ever voted for Obamacare or Biden’s COVID Credits.
Obamacare was enacted by Democrats on a purely partisan basis in 2010. The Biden COVID Credits were created on a purely partisan basis in Biden’s ARPA spending stimulus law and extended on a purely partisan basis by the IRA.
