Health Insurance Subsidies Expire This Month But Congress Can't Agree On A Fix

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

News, Daily News, Politics

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The enhanced subsidies 22 million Americans use to help pay for health insurance are set to expire at the end of this month, and when they do, many Americans will see their insurance premiums balloon. We discuss Democrats' and Republicans' competing proposals to address rising healthcare costs and whether Congress is likely to come to an agreement before — or after — the looming deadline.

This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and health policy correspondent Selena Simmons-Duffin.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey there, it's Tamara Keith. And real quick, before we start the show, I want to take a minute to talk about public media.
0:06.3	It's what makes the NPR Politics Podcast and other NPR podcasts special.
0:11.9	Public media was founded to inform, to educate, to expand our perspective.
0:16.8	But as of this fall, federal funding for public media, including NPR and local NPR stations, has been eliminated.
0:25.8	Despite that, we remain committed to this work to give you the context and analysis you need to make sense of the news coming out of Washington.
0:34.5	This year alone, we've covered President Trump's second term from every angle,
0:39.6	reshaping the federal government, launching a global trade war, an immigration crackdown in
0:44.3	U.S. cities, and so much more. You can help us keep this work going in 2026. Thank you if you
0:51.7	already go the extra mile as an NPR Plus supporter.
0:55.5	If not, you can join the Plus community, get a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from NPR's podcasts, and you'll be supporting public media by signing up for NPR Plus today.
1:07.6	Just go to plus.npr.org.
1:13.2	Hi, this is Kevin Francisco in Fort George Mead, Maryland. I am minutes away from starting
1:19.0	my retirement ceremony after serving 20 years in the Air Force. This podcast was recorded at
1:24.6	12.36 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, December 11th, 2025. Things may have changed by the time you hear this,
1:32.1	but I would have hopefully made the successful transition from Massa Sergeant Francisco to Mr. Francisco.
1:38.8	Okay, here's the show.
1:44.0	Congratulations and thank you for your service. Yes, thank you for your service.
1:46.0	Yes, thank you for your service.
1:47.7	Onward and upward.
1:48.9	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
1:51.3	I'm Sarah McCammon.
1:52.2	I cover politics.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.