After failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, McConnell pivoted to a quieter strategy: sabotage. He refused to bring bipartisan ACA stabilization bills — negotiated by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) — to the Senate floor.

These bills would have funded cost-sharing reduction payments that help low-income Americans afford deductibles and co-pays, and created a reinsurance program to lower premiums for everyone. The CBO estimated they would reduce premiums by 10% or more.

McConnell killed them.

How It Harmed Americans:

Without the stabilization funds, insurers raised premiums by double digits in 2018 and 2019. Some insurers fled the ACA exchanges entirely, leaving "bare counties" where residents had only one insurer — or zero. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that premiums were 20–30% higher than they would have been with the stabilization measures in place.

Millions of Americans in the individual market — freelancers, small business owners, early retirees — paid more for worse coverage because McConnell decided making the ACA look broken was more important than fixing it.

Reference List:

• Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 (Alexander-Murray), 115th Congress

• Congressional Budget Office, cost estimate for Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act (2017)

• Kaiser Family Foundation, "Insurer Participation in ACA Marketplaces" (2017–2020)

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Sabotage Watch: Tracking Efforts to Undermine the ACA" (2017–2020)