New television ads misleadingly accuse Democratic Senate candidates of voting to enrich big insurance companies.

The spots are being run by the Trump-affiliated No Going Back PAC and target New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.

One ad claims Pappas “voted to line the pockets of insurers,” while the other says Brown is a “shill for big insurance” who gives the industry “billions.”

Both ads source these claims to Pappas’ and Brown’s support for enhanced Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies that were introduced in 2021 but have since expired.

The subsidies allowed about 19 million Americans, many of them low- and middle-income, to pay a reduced premium for certain health insurance plans purchased through Obamacare. The government then covered the remainder of the premium with general tax revenues.

While it’s true this created a flow of public cash to insurance companies, the ads leave out the mechanism and purpose of the subsidies, as well as the consequences of eliminating them.

The subsidies helped consumers purchase more elite insurance plans, securing better coverage for themselves and their families. Insurers were contractually obligated to fulfill those plans as though the consumer were paying full price.

Nothing about this arrangement was unusual. The federal government provides similar subsidies for employer-sponsored plans, which is how most Americans, about 165.6 million people, receive health insurance.

The ads base the misleading claims about the subsidies on research from Paragon Health, a conservative think tank partially funded by billionaire Charles Koch. The group has been repeatedly accused of peddling disinformation about Obamacare.

The subsidies were created by the 2021 American Rescue Plan and extended under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, both of which were signed into law by President Joe Biden. Obamacare enrollments doubled after the subsidies were enacted.

Republicans could have extended the subsidies under the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) but declined to do so. Premium payments have since increased by a staggering 114%.

Brown’s Republican opponent, Sen. Jon Husted, voted for OBBB. Pappas’ opponent, former Sen. John Sununu, has praised the legislation.

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News