The New York Post ran a strongly worded editorial this week arguing that Democrats’ main excuse for shutting down the government collapses once the alleged “lies about Obamacare subsidies” are stripped away.
Democrats say they are seeking to protect health care because expiring subsidies will send premiums soaring and cost many people coverage.
However, the Post argues that this central claim is flimsy, exaggerated and in some cases simply untrue.
According to the Post, the truth is that most Obamacare subsidies are not expiring. What is set to vanish is merely the “added cash Democrats in Congress agreed to pay insurers (using taxpayer money) during COVID”.
These “COVID-era boosts” were set by Democrats themselves to expire on December 31. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has screamed that if “these credits expire, people go bankrupt, people will get sick, some will die”.
“The truth? Premiums are expected to rise by $1,665, or 20%, on average, a Paragon Health Institute study found — yet the expiring subsidies account for only four of those percentage points, or just $333. Fact is, most ObamaCare subsidies are not expiring,” the Post argues.
Even with the “sweeteners gone,” the Post notes that taxpayers will still foot “only” 80% of the bill, which is considerably higher than the 68% covered when Obamacare began in 2014.
Nevertheless, Democrats are now demanding these COVID boosts be made permanent, at a cost of nearly half a trillion dollars over 10 years, even as the national debt surpasses $38 trillion.
The editorial further highlights what it calls “madness” within the subsidized plans. Half of those receiving fully subsidized plans file zero claims during the year, often because unscrupulous brokers signed them up without their knowledge, or they rely on other insurance.
Since federal subsidies are paid directly to insurers, taxpayers are “shelling out billions to companies to ‘cover’ folks who get nothing”. The system has enabled health insurers’ stocks to grow far faster than the S&P since Obamacare began.
The Post argues that Obamacare’s structure is “not sustainable” because, with the enrollee share capped and taxpayers “forced” to cover the rest, insurers have no incentive to keep costs down.
Republicans, the editorial argues, must resist Democrats’ “shutdown extortion” and allow the COVID subsidy-boosters to expire, as originally planned by Democrats. Lawmakers on both sides must ultimately rethink the entire Obamacare program—or “kill it altogether”, the paper said.