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Originally on Lumen-News
Democrats in Congress are keeping the federal government shut down, they say, in order to “lower healthcare costs,” but the truth is they are using the public spectacle of the shutdown merely as a stage to save COVID-era temporary Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) subsidies they had already voted to terminate.
A veteran journalist, however, has looked into why Democrats are now demanding the Obamacare subsidies be made permanent – and, as expected, it’s all about the money.
Mark Tapscott of The Washington Stand (TWS) reported Wednesday that he asked top Capitol Hill Democrats whether, in 2025, they met with the 10 largest health insurers who offer coverage through the Obamacare program. He posed the question noting to his readers that these companies “are also recipients of billions of tax dollars via the temporary tax subsidies first approved by Congress and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and then extended through the end of 2025.”
The following health insurance companies were on Tapscott’s list:
Specifically, Tapscott wrote that “TWS asked the Democratic leaders if they or their aides have met with executives or lobbyists representing any of the 10 because these same firms also stand to share in an additional estimated $41 billion in added annual revenues from the federal treasury if the Obamacare tax subsidies are made permanent, as Democrats are demanding as a condition for ending the shutdown.”
He pointed out as well that “[w]ith so many billions of tax dollars in added revenues at stake if the temporary tax subsidies become permanent, it’s not surprising that the 10 health care groups have spent record amounts on lobbying in Congress through the third quarter of 2025, with the total exceeding $24 million.”
And what are Democrats gaining from keeping the government shut down? According to Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), it’s all about “leverage,” despite millions of Americans denied their SNAP benefits.
Tapscott has more to report, however.
“Led by UnitedHealth Group, the 10 firms have contributed millions of dollars to Democratic congressional incumbents, campaign committees, and Political Action Committees (PAC),” he revealed.
And “[n]one of the top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill responded when asked,” he reported.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was still sticking with his plan on Tuesday when he spoke on the floor of the Senate as Democrats voted to keep the government shut down for the 13th time.
“Thune seems perplexed about what precisely it is that Democrats are pushing for,” he mocked, delivering the distortion once again. “But he knows damn well what Democrats want — it’s the very same thing that a vast majority of Americans want, including nearly 60% of MAGA voters: We want to lower healthcare costs, now.”
Follow more of “the money” by reading Tapscott’s full report here.
Not a single Republican voted in 2022 for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which hiked federal spending on COVID healthcare programs and extended Obamacare subsidies through 2025.
Meanwhile, Obamacare – according to sources from different perspectives – has proven to be disastrous.
The Washington Post editorial board observed earlier this month that “Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to extend the covid-era insurance subsidies without proposing any way to pay for it.”
The Post’s editors admitted:
The real problem is that the Affordable Care Act was never actually affordable. President Barack Obama’s signature achievement allowed people to buy insurance on marketplaces with subsidies based on their income. The architects of the program assumed that risk pools would be bigger than they turned out to be. As a result, policies cost more than expected.
“To salvage the program, Democrats expanded subsidies to entice more people to buy plans,” the board explained. “Many poor families wound up getting insurance for free, and the rolls grew: 24 million people now have coverage through the ACA exchanges. People earning more than 400 percent of the poverty line — about $129,000 for a family of four — would see their subsidies go away.”
Matt Dean, a policy fellow at the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment, explained as well, when the Schumer Shutdown first began, the astronomical costs Obamacare has dumped on the nation:
Last year’s rate review data show that since 2015, premiums in the ACA individual and small group markets have risen 92% nationally. In many states, particularly rural ones, premiums are approaching $1,000 per member per month. Between 2015 and 2023, benefit costs have outpaced inflation in most service categories, though prescription drug costs have risen more slowly than outpatient hospital services, other medical services, and capitation within ACA markets.
“The Biden COVID Credits,” Dean added, ended up “crowding out private financing and causing small employers to drop coverage.”
In another piece at TWS, Tapscott summarized that, indeed, “Obamacare has been a disaster for the American health care system, according to multiple voices across the political spectrum.”
“Thus, whether they realize it or not, Schumer and Jeffries are now stuck holding the skunk.”
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