Why Alaska’s GOP senators broke party lines on Obamacare

Alaska has a higher cost of living than most other states and is projected to have among the highest premium spikes next year

Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan’s vote Thursday in favor of Democrats’ bill to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies was the biggest surprise in a day that otherwise went according to script in the Senate.

Republicans rejected the Democratic bill and Democrats did the same to the GOP offering, to replace the expiring subsidies with government-funded health savings accounts, in dueling messaging votes.

But Sullivan’s vote, along with that of fellow Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins and Missouri’s Josh Hawley, for the Democratic bill showed that a fair number of Republicans are worried about letting the subsidies, which made Obamacare plans free for many low-income people and reduced premiums for others, go away at year’s end…(Read full story)