Don't extend the ACA subsidies Senator Collins!

Susan Collins told The Maine Wire she'd support extending the ACA subsidies, but not for high income earners.

Of course. But...

Extending the expanded ACA tax credits—which were temporarily boosted during COVID—is a short-term political bandage on a long-term policy failure. Here’s why it’s a bad idea and only serves to mask how badly the ACA is failing:

1. The Expanded Subsidies Hide Premium Inflation

The ACA’s structure has led to massively inflated premiums, especially for middle-income Americans who don’t qualify for traditional subsidies. By artificially increasing subsidies through COVID-era expansions, the government conceals the true cost of coverage, making it appear “affordable” when, in reality, it’s just more expensive insurance propped up by taxpayer dollars.

2. It Rewards a Failing Model

Instead of reforming the ACA’s broken incentives, expanded tax credits double down on a system that:

Forces Americans to buy bloated, one-size-fits-all plans.
Penalizes people who earn just slightly “too much” with subsidy cliffs.
Leaves middle-class families paying full price for hyperinflated coverage.
These aren’t solutions—they’re political optics.

3. Where Were They Before COVID?

For nearly a decade, millions of Americans—especially the self-employed and middle-income families—were priced out of the market. Politicians ignored them.

4. It Creates Dependency, Not Reform

The expanded credits just make more people dependent on taxpayer subsidies instead of encouraging:

Price competition.
Personal ownership of insurance.
Transparent, portable policies.
It’s the same failed mindset behind Medicaid expansion: grow the rolls, then claim success, even as costs skyrocket and choice vanishes.

5. Politicians Are Just Masking ACA Collapse

The ACA has failed to:

Control costs.
Promote portability.
Fix employer-based insurance domination.

Expanded subsidies are a political smokescreen to avoid admitting the ACA hasn’t delivered. Rather than redesign the system around personal ownership and market-based pricing, they're pushing more government dependency.

The Better Alternative: Age-Based Tax Credits

Instead of endless subsidies tied to income and government plans, Americans should receive predictable, age-based tax credits to buy their own private insurance, just like they buy car or life insurance. This:

Ends the employer stranglehold.
Encourages savings through Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Restores transparency and risk-based pricing.
For example:

A 35-year-old would receive a $3,500 tax credit.
A 45-year-old gets $4,500.
A 60-year-old gets $6,000.
Leftover credit flows into a personal HSA—building wealth, not dependency.

In short: Extending the expanded ACA tax credits is a bailout for a failing law, not a solution. The people hurt most by the ACA for years are now being used to prop it up, not free them. Real reform means returning control to individuals—not tying them to the same broken system with bigger subsidies.