Influential Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) urged GOP leaders on Wednesday to draw up a replacement for costly Obamacare, claiming that whining isn’t winning for the Republican Party.
With new polls showing Republicans falling behind on the healthcare issue, Greene said that just complaining about how Democrats have shut down the federal government over Obamacare subsidies isn’t good enough.
“Republicans, it’s time to build the off ramp off of Obamacare in a responsible way, deregulate healthcare and pharmaceuticals and demand price transparency across the board, and incentivize the market in such a way to open up competition which will drive down cost,” she wrote on X.
“Pick up your bat and ball and get in the game,” added Greene, who has broken with her party and endorsed the healthcare subsidies.
Instead of just waiting for Democrats to give in on their demand for extended Obamacare subsidies passed during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, Greene said she sees an opportunity for the GOP to take the high ground on the healthcare issue.
More of my Republican colleagues are finally talking about the unaffordable health insurance crisis, but yesterday on our GOP conference call Speaker Johnson said he has ideas and pages of policy, but did not say a single policy plan.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 22, 2025
I think that is unacceptable.
Democrats…
“America gave us the House and Senate majority and entrusted us to legislatively deliver the agenda they voted for, and along with that comes the responsibility to help Americans,” she wrote, adding, “America First, remember?”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Republican leaders have spent much of the 22-day shutdown blaming Democrats and calling for passage of a “clean” spending bill. Once passed, they said, then talks on Obamacare can commence.
But that doesn’t sit well with Republicans such as Greene, who are concerned about the skyrocketing costs of Obamacare, and new polls agree with her.
Cygnal pollster Brent Buchanan said that Republicans have lost ground on the issue, especially among blue-collar workers.
“Among non-college-educated voters, healthcare as a top issue nearly doubled from 6.5% to 11% from September to October. In that same time, non-college voters went from R+17 on the generic ballot to R+10,” he warned.
In calling on Republicans to come up with their own healthcare plan, Greene said the timing is ideal because at the heart of the Democratic demand for continued subsidies is the Left’s admission that Obamacare is way too expensive for Main Street Americans.
“Democrats created this nightmare 15 years ago, then made it worse in 2021 by extending the [Affordable Care Act] tax credits that are now expiring, and I find it unacceptable that Republicans are sitting on the sidelines doing nothing to fix this healthcare disaster that is leading many Americans into financial ruin,” she said.
“Democrats are complaining day in and day out about the coming massive insurance hikes because of the expiring tax credits that they put in place, as the healthcare exchange rates go back to the original Obamacare system Democrats put in place. By doing so, they are admitting they screwed the whole health insurance system up and they are admitting original Obamacare is now way too expensive,” she added.
Democrats, meanwhile, have handled the Obamacare issue awkwardly, especially in asking for more taxpayer funding when it was they who passed legislation to sunset the subsidies.
So they were getting a $15,000 a year handout from taxpayers so that you could keep pretending Obamacare isn't a disaster?
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 21, 2025
That's quite the admission, Amy. https://t.co/sx59XD1BsX
On Wednesday, for example, in an X post, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) complained about how two early retirees faced financial troubles without the subsidy.
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“Early retirees like Bill & Shelly will see their health insurance premiums increase nearly 300%—from $442 to $1,700 per month if Congressional Republicans refuse to extend the enhanced tax credits. That’s an extra $15K a year families can’t afford,” she posted.
Critics came down hard and fast, asking why taxpayers should be on the hook to help early retirees with their costs when they are still working well into their 60s. “The couple retired in their early 50s. They don’t work but make $136,000 a year off of pension & IRA savings & you want taxpayers to give them $15,000 a year handout? Seriously? This couple is like the poster child for revoking the enhanced tax credits,” said one online critic about the couple’s story on CNBC.
