The shots Congressional Republicans are taking at the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are starting to hit an unintended target—carriers.

The latest rift between the GOP and industry executives tore open over the party's attack on subsidies to some carriers doing business on the public exchanges. The federal subsidies, known as risk corridors, are designed to offset the risk of participation in the largely unknown public exchange marketplace. While some insurers have profited nicely from exchange business, others haven't done as well as they'd hoped. These companies are in line for the subsidies.

But, as reported in The Hill, the GOP has a special enmity for these subsidies. Perhaps the party's feelings toward them were best summed up by Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio, who's branded them "bailouts."