Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan joined Senate Democrats and a handful of other Republicans on Thursday in voting to extend federal subsidies that would have prevented a major spike in health care prices at the end of the year.

Sixty votes were needed to advance a bill containing the extension, but the vote failed 51-48. An alternative Republican-backed bill, which would have offered marginal help to offset the cost increases, also failed despite support from Murkowski and Sullivan.

Barring additional action before Jan. 1, thousands of Alaskans and millions of Americans who buy health insurance through the federal marketplace will pay significantly more for health care next year.

“I would just suggest that we have failed,” Murkowski said in a floor speech followin

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