Even though the pandemic is long over, Democrats — and some Republicans — in Congress want to keep spending like it’s an emergency.
Their latest demand?
Making the bloated Obamacare subsidy expansion permanent.
Congress has been operating as if these costly subsidies are popular.
The secret’s out, though; most Americans want them to expire as intended.
When Covid hit, Congress boosted Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies to help families struggling with high medical bills.
That may have made sense during a crisis, but now those temporary “Covid bonuses” are still available, thanks to extensions provided during the Biden administration.
The extensions come with a hefty price tag.
In fact, the expected 10-year cost of the expansions is roughly $450 billion.
That’s a massive income transfer to health insurers and upper-middle income households, who typically don’t need the subsidized health insurance.
If you can believe it, some families earning up to $500,000 can now get taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.
That isn’t the relief that Americans were sold.
Americans want the expansions to expire, despite what faulty polls say.
Many in Congress are confident that they can keep the subsidies rolling, kicking the fiscal can down the road.
This is because some in the media have spread the misinformation that voters want it.
According to two polls, about three-quarters of Americans want to extend the subsidies.
But let’s look closer:
This isn’t polling; it’s a spin campaign.
Here’s what the real polling says.
An honest poll showed that 53% of voters supported letting the Covid Bonus expire, and another survey found that a massive 65% of likely voters wanted “federal health care payments for higher-income individuals” to end, “while returning to the pre-COVID rates for lower-income people.”
In other words, Americans aren’t demanding more Obamacare handouts now that the Covid emergency is over.
Progressives in Congress are holding the government hostage, in part, to protect these unpopular and expensive subsidies.
Instead of negotiating responsibly, they are using the threat of a shutdown to keep the higher Obamacare subsidies permanently.
These political games are harming everyday Americans, while we all just want the government to work well.
Instead of ending the hugely unpopular government shutdown, we’re forced to watch Congress argue over subsidies that were meant to deal with a public health emergency that ended long ago.
Congress should listen to voters, not health insurance lobbyists.
It’s time to let the Covid-era ACA subsidies expire and return to the pre-pandemic setup.
That means:
We don’t want an endless cycle of bailouts and handouts. We want real options.
It’s time Congress listened to its constituents.
The pandemic is over. It’s time Washington acted like it.
Let the Covid-era Obamacare subsidies expire, as intended.
Add your name to our letter urging Congress to end the Covid-era expansions and support the Personal Option for health care.
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