Margot Sanger-Katz

But the deadline for enrollment came on Monday, and they did not pass anything like that.

Yeah.

I mean, you probably have the same thing for like we have the same thing here at the Times for our work insurance.

There's some period of time in which you have to pick and pay for your health insurance.

And that signs you up for the whole year.

And there just are deadlines that happen every year.

So even though we're not at the end of the year now, we're kind of a little bit at the end of the line for these subsidies.

People had to make their choices.

Right.

Now, that said, it may not be totally over.

This week, something kind of unusual happened.

A couple of moderate Republicans who are really mad at the speaker of the House for not giving them a chance to vote on this joined up with all of the Democrats to sign what's called a discharge petition, which is a way to get a bill on the floor without the House speaker's cooperation.

And that bill would extend the subsidies for three years.

Mm hmm.

But that bill isn't going to come up for a vote for probably a couple of weeks.

And it's not clear whether it can pass the Senate.

So for now, it looks like these subsidies are going to expire and a lot of people are going to have to pay more for their health insurance.

So if you will indulge me, I think it makes sense to go back in time a little bit and talk about Obamacare.

Definitely.

So when Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, they set up a system where people who don't get their insurance through work or through a government program have access to a market.