Allowing Obamacare premiums to soar appears to be one step too far
From the moment Donald Trump hit the campaign trail in 2015, he promised the American people he would replace Obamacare with a plan that would offer “such great health care, at a tiny fraction of the cost — and it’s going to be so easy.“ He said, “nobody knows health care better than Donald Trump.“ Ten years of similar promises have shown that replacing the Affordable Care Act wasn’t so easy after all — and that the only health care plan the GOP ever truly wanted was one called “you’re on your own.”
Obamacare is, overall, a successful and popular program — the Republicans’ worst nightmare. So naturally, drunk with power as they are, they’ve decided to take another stab at ruining it, which is why they decided to let the subsidies that have been in place for the last five years lapse. Experts say this will cause premiums to skyrocket and force many to go without health care. Restoring these subsidies is Democrats’ main demand in the government shutdown battle
People across the country are just beginning to receive notices in the mail showing their premiums will double, or worse, next year. Republicans knew this was coming, but they either thought they could escape blame for it or they are so deluded they actually believe it’s what people want. As the shutdown moves into its second week, the consequences of their actions are starting to manifest.
We know this because Trump is once again parroting his old lines, telling NBC, “Obamacare has been a disaster for the people, so we want to have it fixed so it works.” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wailed to the media, “Let me look right into the camera and tell you clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about health care. Republicans are the party working around the clock to fix health care. We’re not — this is not talking points for us: We’ve done it.” He explained that the GOP has “lots of ideas” but they aren’t going to talk about them now because that’s for “the next three months,” presumably while they hash out the One Big Beautiful Budget.
If the party has any plans beyond raising premiums for Obamacare and slashing Medicaid to the bone, closing tons of rural hospitals, instituting irrational work requirements and denying care to millions of people, the place to look for some of their big ideas is Project 2025. Despite the fact that Trump denied he had anything to do with it, the Heritage Foundation manifesto has turned out to be the blueprint for his administration’s domestic policies.
