Reconciliation 2.0: The Path to Lower Health Care Costs

Republicans have a historic opportunity to use reconciliation to tackle the health care cost crisis that is crushing both our nation's families and jeopardizing our collective destiny.

Feb. 3, 2026 at 9:15am

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Washington is running out of time, and Americans are running out of patience. Half of Americans struggle to pay for health care costs, and federal health care spending has ballooned 100 times to nearly $2 trillion a year. Republicans have a plan to use reconciliation to lower health care costs by injecting competition, transparency, and personal responsibility back into the system.

Why it matters

Health care costs are rising faster than wages, premiums are swallowing family budgets, and the federal government is barreling toward a debt crisis fueled by exorbitant federal health care spending. Tackling these systemic failures is the urgency of this moment.

The details

Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill last year, proving reform is both possible and responsible. This law locked in and enhanced tax cuts for hardworking families and achieved more than $1 trillion in health care savings by closing loopholes, rooting out fraud, and enforcing common-sense eligibility standards while protecting care for the most vulnerable. Now, Republicans want to go further by requiring insurers and providers to publicly post their prices, equalizing Medicare payment rates regardless of where the service is provided, and empowering Americans to become better informed consumers of their own health care through Health Savings Accounts.

  • In 1975, the federal government spent $19 billion on health care.
  • Since then, federal health care spending has ballooned 100 times to nearly $2 trillion a year—most of it happening after Democrats enacted Obamacare.

The players

Jodey Arrington

The U.S. Representative for Texas's 19th Congressional District and serves as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee.

President Trump

Has laid out a vision for meaningful health care reforms that all Americans can embrace, including lower drug prices, lower insurance premiums, holding big insurance companies accountable, and maximizing price transparency.

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What they’re saying

“The Left will tell you the only answer to this problem is more government regulation, more mandates, and more spending. Obamacare's advocates promised it would bend the cost curve down; instead, premiums and deductibles have doubled and choices have dwindled. This is not reform—it is rationing, dressed up in nice language.”

— Jodey Arrington, U.S. Representative for Texas's 19th Congressional District and Chairman of the House Budget Committee (realclearhealth.com)

What’s next

Through reconciliation 2.0, Republicans can save our health care system and our nation's balance sheet before we bankrupt the American people and our children's future.

The takeaway

Republicans have a historic opportunity to use reconciliation to tackle the health care cost crisis that is crushing both our nation's families and jeopardizing our collective destiny by injecting competition, transparency, and personal responsibility back into the system.