Obamacare always provided subsidies for individuals to purchase insurance plans on ACA marketplaces set up by the law. Republicans were not inherently opposed to extending four-year-old "temporary" subsidies, with some GOP lawmakers proposing to extend them by at least one year. But Republican leadership in the Senate insisted on funding the government first and then negotiating on health care subsidies. The 2010 law required health insurance companies to cover certain "essential health benefits." They want to keep hiding the cost of Obamacare's health insurance regulations," says Cannon.