U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan said Friday that he’s in favor of extending the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
“I don't feel proper in ripping the rug out from underneath people that are already struggling economically and from an affordability perspective. I think we need to approach it twofold. I think we need to extend the subsidies for one year the way it is, also then we need to get to work and figure out a legislative, real solution, real reform,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan was accompanied by Mehmet Oz, also known by his television persona ‘Dr. Oz’, who now serves as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator in President Donald Trump's administration. The pair visited Geisinger in Scranton for a roundtable discussion with local health leaders, which was closed to press.
Their visit was one of two high profile visits to the region today. Sen. Dave McCormick visited the Wyoming County Healthcare Center in Tunkhannock to tour the facility and meet executive leadership. The Center reopened in 2024 after being closed by Commonwealth Health Systems in 2022.
This story will be updated with coverage of McCormick's afternoon visit, which wrapped up a short time ago.
Healthcare affordability
KFF found that healthcare costs could more than double for enrollees in the ACA should the tax credits expire.
The government shutdown ended in mid-November without the credits being extended.
“I'm one of the original co-sponsors of the bipartisan problem solvers, caucus rendition that was to extend for one year with the current parameters,” Bresnahan said. “Right now, we are looking at the best available option. We are certainly going to be supportive of extending those credits, but obviously legislatively, we need to have a product that ultimately gets across the finish line.”
Democrats in the Senate plan to force a vote on a three-year expansion of the tax credits next week.
Rural Health Transformation Fund
During a press conference after the closed roundtable, Dr. Oz and Bresnahan discussed the Rural Health Transformation Fund.
The Fund will provide $50 billion to states over five years, starting in 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Applications were due in November, and awards decisions will be released on Dec. 31.
According to KFF, half the fund will be distributed evenly, and CMS will decide how to distribute the remaining funds based on states’ applications.
CMS wanted states to address five goals with their applications: Make rural America healthy again, sustainable access, workforce, innovative care and technological innovation.
“We didn't want to just give the money out and hope it works. We purposely put strings attached. So if you promise to do certain things and you don't do them, you should be penalized. However, if you do those things, and other states don't do what they promise to do, you're going to get their money. So there's an upside and there's a downside. All we're asking is do what you promised you were going to do,” Oz said.
Pennsylvania’s proposal would award the state $200 million a year for a total of $1 billion over five years if approved by the federal government. The state released its full proposal after submission.
The future of NEPA’s healthcare landscape
Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, CEO of The Wright Center, joined the congressman and Dr. Oz for the roundtable. Also involved in the discussion were Wayne Memorial Hospital's CEO James Pettinato, Pike County commissioners Ronald Schmalzle and Matt Osterberg.
“We have a really complex debacle in front of us, which is American healthcare,” Thomas-Hemak said. “The solutions for that are going to be when we have proximity between the oversight and authority of the federal government and the generosity of administrator Oz, who's willing to come to Northeastern Pennsylvania compliments of an invitation that [Rep. Bresnahan] extended, living your responsibility to the people of northeastern Pennsylvania, and that it was a really powerful discussion and gathering of individual stakeholders who, in order to get to the preferred future, are going to need to demonstrate unprecedented collaboration beyond the walls of our own institution.”
Thomas-Hemak earlier this year expressed concern over the changes to Medicaid in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which Bresnahan voted for and ultimately became law. She said today’s conversation with the congressman and Dr. Oz helped assuage some of her concerns.
“Real change is challenging, and that in order to fix these complex problems, we're going to need to have really hard conversations, and the good news is from what I witnessed in that room, the federal government and our legislators have the bravery and courage to shepherd those conversations, but with incredible compassion for what it means for people and humanity and providers and communities, and so we know big changes are coming, but we have faith that there's good people overseeing the changes,” she said.
“Change is coming, and with real change comes some pain, but it's less painful if we're all in it together as Americans,” she continued.
Cognetti, Democrats respond
While Oz and Bresnahan visited in their official capacities, and not for a campaign event, the issues they discussed are already coloring next year’s midterm elections, in which Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti is seeking the Democratic nomination for Bresnahan’s 8th District seat.
It is expected to be one of the nation’s most closely watched House races in 2026 as Democrats look to eliminate Republicans’ narrow majority and reclaim control of the chamber.
Cognetti and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took aim at Friday’s visit, in particular Bresnahan’s vote in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Bresnahan voted for the biggest Medicaid cuts in our lifetime -- and Oz is the guy swinging the axe,” Cognetti wrote in a social media post on X.
The DCCC similarly questioned how Bresnahan’s vote could affect “vulnerable populations.”
McCormick in Tunkhannock
In Tunkhannock, McCormick visited the growing Wyoming County Healthcare Center, which was the former Tyler Memorial Hospital.
He said Trump’s spending bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will bolster healthcare by distributing $50 billion over the next five years through the Rural Health Fund.
“Places like this (Wyoming County) don’t have adequate healthcare … we’ve got to make sure that (the funding) comes to places like this,” McCormick said.
Wyoming County residents often have to travel 45 minutes to an hour for emergency medical care or even out-of-state for advanced procedures.
McCormick asked healthcare professionals what they need to establish the center as a hub for rural healthcare. The center serves as a collection of healthcare facilities and partners, from the Guthrie Clinic to the Wright Center for Community Health.
Lindsay Shalata, the county healthcare center’s executive director, said her network of providers needs support from Washington and state lawmakers to establish 24/7 care for patients, a micro-hospital and to reopen the center’s operating room.
Local healthcare officials said they could not give a timeline for when these services could be provided, but said they are committed to the process.
Christopher Andres, Guthrie’s Southeast Regional Lead Physician, explained that while the former Tyler Memorial Hospital closed about three years ago, its services had been dwindling for a long time, since the hospital lost its obstetrical unit about 20 years ago.
“The death of a community is started with the death of the [community’s] healthcare,” Andres said.
He shared that he started practicing in Tunkhannock in 1996.
“When this building closed, it was like a piece of me was taken away,” Andres said.
Wyoming County has a population of about 27,000 people. Andres said the COVID-19 pandemic “wrecked everything” as within a four to five-year period, the county lost 12 medical providers.
In an interview after McCormick’s visit, Andres said that he and his medical partners would not comment specifically about the effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill on rural healthcare or the recent government shutdown – which was the longest in the nation’s history – because he is more concerned about what he can do to help his patients in the moment.
“Our focus is that the next patient that walks through the store is going to get the best possible care that we can provide,” Andres said.
He acknowledged the bill and recent shutdown could put “challenges and sometimes barriers or roadblocks” to providing his patients’ healthcare, but he said he and his partners will do everything within their power to serve Wyoming County.
McCormick: Obama's program 'failed'
McCormick also addressed ACA premiums after his tour of the Wyoming County facility. He said President Barack Obama’s healthcare program “failed” and it is not sustainable for American families.
“We have the most expensive health care in the world. We spend about 18% of GDP (gross domestic product on healthcare) three times more than any other developed country,” McCormick said.
However, he said he did not “have the answers” on how to fix the U.S. healthcare system.
“I'm new to the Senate, but what I do know is that people … cannot live with these rising prices in … health care premiums for their insurance. And so, I want to really try to get engaged on that and make sure whatever changes we make in the near term, it's protecting people that are … living paycheck to paycheck,” McCormick said.
He said he wants to work on three issues in healthcare while in office: giving money back to people so they can decide on what kind of healthcare they want, more transparency in healthcare costs and fostering more competition between healthcare providers. He did not elaborate on these points during the short press conference after the tour.
McCormick also said that he believes Congress needs to extend healthcare subsidies for at least another year to give lawmakers “time to figure out what is necessary” to alleviate the country’s healthcare crisis.
