Tag Archives: Obamacare subsidies

Cutting Spending Is Hard

Posted on by

On Thursday, Fox News reported that seventeen Republicans voted to extend the ‘temporary’ Obamacare subsidies for another three years. These are the ‘temporary’ subsides put in place during Covid. The only justification for the Republicans who voted for this is that they are in liberal districts and fear that they will lose in the mid-terms if they end the subsidies. This illustrates how citizens can raid the treasury and how that impacts elections. Hopefully the bill will not pass in the Senate. Premiums for Obamacare are increasing, but the solution is not to pay the insurance companies–it’s to fix the problems with Obamacare.

The article reports:

The vast majority of Republicans believe the subsidies are a COVID-era relic of a long-broken federal healthcare system. Conservatives argued that the relatively small percentage of Americans who rely on Obamacare meant that an extension would do little to ease rising health costs that people across the country are experiencing.

But a core group of moderates has been arguing that a failure to extend a reformed version of them would force millions of Americans to grapple with skyrocketing healthcare costs this year.

Those moderates were also frustrated with Jeffries for not working with Republicans on a bipartisan solution to the subsidies but felt they were left with little choice but to support Democrats’ bid in the end.

Unless someone stands their ground, the subsidies will continue forever, and Americans will wonder why the government keeps taking more of their money and insurance companies get richer.

The article concludes:

House Republicans passed a healthcare bill in mid-December aimed at lowering those costs for a broader swath of Americans, but that legislation has not been taken up in the Senate.

There’s also little chance the three-year extension will pass the upper chamber, however. Similar legislation led by Senate Democrats failed to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold to advance in December.

The Latest Proposal

Posted on by

On Friday, Senator Schumer offered to open the government if the Republicans would agree to his demands. That is not exactly what he said, but that is the essence of it–I will release the hostages if you will give me what I want. That’s hardly a reasonable request.

On Friday, Red State posted an article that included Senator Kennedy from Louisiana’s response.

The article reports:

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) had a savage response to his fellow Democrat leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), offering to reopen the government, and said it involves needing “bail money” if God were to give him strength rather than patience after hearing it.

On Friday, Schumer announced his proposal, in which he said that he and his Democrat colleagues would agree to reopen the government if, and only if, the Republicans extended COVID-19-era Obama-care subsidies for another year, and then they could sit down to negotiate with the GOP to deal with healthcare costs.

…”What Senator Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work. Stupid should hurt more.” “[Schumer’s proposal] means we would have to take $35B of taxpayer money and give it directly to health insurance companies without any commitment of lowering premiums.”

The article concludes:

“I’ve voted more than a dozen times to fund the government—but many politicians are too scared of pressure from socialists to do the right thing,” Kennedy wrote. “I think a missing paycheck would make them grow a spine.”

Kennedy might be right that when Democrats see zero paychecks, like Air Traffic Controllers have experienced, they might snap out of this insanity.

Senator Kennedy has proposed a law that Congress would not get paid while the government is shut down. Good idea.

Using Their Time Wisely

Posted on by

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about how Republicans are using the time they have during the government shutdown.

The article reports:

Republicans have begun to articulate the beginnings of a healthcare reform plan as Democrats keep the government shut down with the nominal aim of addressing rising costs. 

The shutdown itself is nearing a record and shows no signs of ending in the near future. Republicans have accused Democrats of seeking to reinstate funding for illegal immigrant healthcare while Democrats have insisted they want to lower costs for all Americans.

While the Democrats’ gambit does not appear poised to pay off in the form of tangible concessions, it does seem to have pressured the GOP into at least developing the beginnings of a reform plan.

“This is a funding fight, not a healthcare fight,” House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted this month on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show. “But there’s the Obamacare COVID-era subsidies that expire December 31 and there’s a lot of heated debate that we’ve got to have in the House and Senate to figure out what to do about that.”

The article concludes:

“So they are, you know, indicative of the super-sized business model and pushing small businesses […] out of business,” he said. “Getting small business back into the marketplace is both smaller insurance companies and making sure that your hometown physician and your hometown pharmacist are able to service their citizens, is one of the best things to do.”

So far, however, talk of reform appears contingent on an end to the government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for his part, stated this month that he was willing to discuss healthcare reform with Democrats, but would not do so under budget duress.

“I’m not sure how much clearer I can be, but let me give it a try: I am willing to sit down with Democrats to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare,” he posted on X. “It’s a system they created, but I’m happy to hear them out. Heck, I’m even willing to give them a vote. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. You name it. But there’s one condition: End the Schumer Shutdown. I will not negotiate under hostage conditions, nor will I pay a ransom. Period.

Frankly, Obamacare needs to go away, and the government needs to get out of healthcare. Obamacare was designed to fail and lead us to a single-payer healthcare system similar to Britain and Canada. There is a reason many Canadians come to America for their healthcare needs.