The industry has been lobbying aggressively for more money, and HHS responded last week promising insurers that it would attempt to “explore other sources of funding” for the program and that it viewed bailing out insurers as an “obligation” of the federal government.

Rubio, noting this development, is pushing for further action in the upcoming “omnibus” spending bill to prevent any bailouts from taking hold in future fiscal years.

“If the only way ObamaCare can continue is for taxpayers to bail out health insurers that lose money because of it, that’s as good an indication as any that the whole law should be repealed and replaced,” Rubio wrote to GOP leaders. “It is our responsibility to completely shield the U.S. taxpayer from a deal in the Omnibus that might reimburse health insurers retroactively for these losses or any other future losses. The best way to do this is to include the language in the Omnibus that we have already used twice to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout.”