Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Newsmax on Monday that once the government shutdown ends, House Republicans plan to introduce new proposals aimed at lowering healthcare costs. The House passed a short-term funding bill on Sept. 19 to keep the government open through Nov. 21, but the measure stalled in the Senate amid disputes over Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Appearing on The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Johnson declined to specify when the House might take up a bipartisan Senate plan to extend government funding through Jan. 30. The Senate advanced that proposal Sunday, though a final vote is still pending. Johnson said Republicans had included healthcare cost reforms in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), but Democrats removed them during negotiations. “The problem is that we are subsidizing very wealthy insurance companies,” Johnson said. “That is not helping costs go down—it’s driving premiums higher. Republicans want to fix the broken system.”

Johnson claimed that the OBBB contained a measure that would have lowered healthcare premiums by nearly 13%, but Democrats opposed it. He argued that the ACA has failed to contain costs and that government subsidies only mask systemic issues. “When the government subsidizes something, it almost always means it’s not working,” he said. With pandemic-era subsidies expiring Dec. 31, Johnson called the issue urgent, saying Republicans will reintroduce ideas to “drive premiums down” and address “root causes” of high costs. He added that GOP lawmakers will work toward a bipartisan solution over the next two months but criticized Democrats for lacking reform proposals. In a separate Fox News interview, Johnson urged GOP members to return to Washington ahead of a potential Wednesday vote to reopen the government.