Sen Rick Scott proposes HSA healthcare plan as Obamacare subsidy alternative
Democrats divided over government shutdown deal
Fox News Senior National Correspondent Aishah Hasnie reports on growing calls for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to resign over his handling of the government shutdown in a “special report.”
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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said he didn’t want to blow up Obamacare but wanted to give Americans another option.
Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made their main shutdown argument regarding the expiration of the Obamacare subsidies, saying that if they were allowed to expire at the end of this year, millions of Americans would see the cost of their health care premiums skyrocket.
But Scott and other Republicans say simply expanding current subsidies would funnel billions of taxpayer money to insurance companies, without a single penny actually reaching the pockets of Americans looking for insurance options.
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Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said he doesn’t want to blow up Obamacare or get rid of Obamacare subsidies. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
His plan “would allow the person to be a consumer,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview in his office.
“I just think we should fix Obamacare,” Scott said. “So the way I see it, if you want to buy on the stock market, you know, an Obamacare product, do it. If that’s what you want. I mean, leave it there.”
“But I know what a consumer is going to do,” he continued. “Consumers are going to be a lot more creative in how they take care of themselves.”
Scott said his idea, in a sea of growing possibilities for what to do next to address the health care issue raised by congressional Democrats, would be to send any type of Obamacare subsidy money directly to a health savings account (HSA).
Senate ends 41-day government shutdown impasse, sends bipartisan agreement to House of Representatives
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is seen after a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on the government shutdown, Nov. 5, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
His plan, which he has been working on behind the scenes for some time, received additional credit when President Donald Trump recommended to Senate Republicans on Saturday that “the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being sent to money-sucking insurance companies in order to save the bad health care provided by ObamaCare, be sent directly to people so they can buy their own, much better health care and have money left over.”
“In other words, take from the BIG, BAD insurance companies, give it to the people, and end, per dollar spent, the worst health care system in the world, Obamacare,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump’s message was a response to Schumer and Democrats’ counteroffer to reopen the government, which Republicans quickly rejected, and which would have extended Obamacare subsidies for another year.
If the subsidies were extended permanently, which was built into Democrats’ initial request at the start of the shutdown, it would cost $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AT CENTER OF DEM’S STOP FIGHTS ‘FUEL’ HEALTH COST INFLATION, CONSERVATIVES SAY
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to South Korea, October 29, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Scott viewed the latest proposal as nothing more than pure politics and something Republicans would never vote for.
“It’s all about politics. It’s not about people,” he said. “So I think Schumer and the Democrats are heartless. They are absolutely heartless.”
It’s also an idea Scott said he’s already spoken to the president about.
Republicans have denounced the current state of the subsidies, which were boosted under former President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic. This improvement removed the income cap placed on the grants, allowing people earning well above the poverty line to qualify.
Scott lambasted the current state of Obamacare’s enhanced subsidies, but he noted that he was not suggesting those subsidies be eliminated altogether.
“You might make $250,000 a year, so you’re paying for these people who make $250,000 a year, and you’re paying for them with your taxes,” Scott said. “How? Tell me how that makes sense.”
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He hopes his legislative proposal will be finalized quickly, as others in the Republican Party also have ideas on how to solve the problem of expiring subsidies and rising health care costs.
“Let the consumer become the buyer of health care,” he said. “All the dollars we’re going to put into this go to the consumer and allow them to buy what they want.”
