GOP facing 'an immediate firestorm' ahead of the 2026 midterm: report

The hope of many Republicans who will be on the ballot in 2026 that they won’t pay a price for meddling with voters' healthcare is swiftly fading as new budget negotiations stall, according to reporting.

According to a report from Politico’s Joanne Kenen, GOP lawmakers have been hoping that the cuts in medical services and rise in rates for those taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would not take effect until after the election, but that is looking less likely, putting conservative lawmakers ill at ease about what is already expected to be a tough road ahead.

According to one political analyst, Republicans are now facing an “immediate firestorm.”

“A full year before anyone casts their vote in November 2026 — meaning now, in the fall of 2025 — the American health care system will begin transitioning from an era of unprecedented expansion of coverage to an era of unprecedented cutbacks. And President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will be easy to blame,” Kenen wrote before adding that the Republican-controlled Congress is under the gun to reach a deal on expiring Obamacare provisions.

Without a deal, “insurance premiums are set to rise, often by double-digit percentages, in and out of Affordable Care Act exchanges,” and up to 14 million Americans could lose coverage.

With all of that looming, Patrick Brown, of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, who has pushed Republicans to be more receptive to the health needs of their constituents, stated, “I think the gamble the Republicans are taking is [voters] are not going to associate that with us, right?”

Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals, claimed the GOP already has a problem, explaining, “There will be impacts before the ’26 midterms.”

“If you’re running a health system and you’re looking at millions of dollars of cuts starting next year, assuming these changes go forth… What do you do?” he elaborated. “Do you shut down your most profitable services? No, you shut down things that lose money. And that’s just the sad mathematics of it.”

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