Democrats will win the government shutdown fight. Subsidies will be extended.
Political Consequences
A timely and interesting poll by the Kaiser Foundation on Obamacare relates to the government shutdown battle.
Please consider Political Consequences of Health Policy Legislation
Key Takeaways
- Three-quarters (78%) of adults say Congress should extend the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their own insurance through the ACA Marketplace.
- This is more than three times the share of the public (22%) who say Congress should let the credits expire.
- Notably, majorities across political party want Congress to extend the tax credits including nine in ten (92%) Democrats, eight in ten (82%) independents, and six in ten (59%) Republicans.
- A majority of Republicans who align with the MAGA movement (57%) also say Congress should extend these subsidies.
Blame Game Results
- About four in ten (39%) adults who want to see the tax credits extended say that if Congress does not extend these enhanced tax credits, President Trump deserves most of the blame.Another four in ten (37%) say the same about Republicans in Congress.
- About two in ten (22%) say that Democrats in Congress deserve most of the blame.
- Among those who buy their own coverage (nearly half of whom identify as Republican or Republican-leaning), Republicans in Congress and President Trump receive the majority of the blame (42% and 37%, respectively).
Awareness
- About six in ten adults say they have heard “a little” (30%) or “nothing at all” (31%) about the expiring ACA subsidies, showing widespread lack of information on the cost of coverage for over 24 million people in the U.S.
- Four in ten say (39%) they’ve heard “a lot” or “some” – up from 27% in June of this year. Even among the group whose cost of coverage is expected to double next year – those who purchase their own insurance plans – about six in ten (58%) say they have heard just “a little” or “nothing at all” about the expiration of tax credits for people who self-purchased insurance.
- Democrats seem to be more aware of the pending expiration, with about half of Democrats (50%) saying they have heard at least “some” about this, compared to about a third of independents (35%) and Republicans (34%).
- More than eight in ten adults say they would be concerned, including at least half who say they would be “very concerned,” if they heard that health insurance would be unaffordable for many people who buy their own coverage (86%), that 4 million people would lose their health insurance coverage (86%), or if they heard that people who work at small businesses or are self-employed would be directly impacted (85%).
Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) Favorability
Big Beautiful Bill Favorability by Political Party
- Overall, about four in ten (38%) adults hold favorable views of the tax and budget legislation passed earlier this year, including three-quarters of Republicans (75%) and eight in ten (82%) Republicans or Republican-leaning independents who support the MAGA movement.
- Democrats and independents, on the other hand, largely hold unfavorable views of the legislation, including nearly nine in ten (88%) Democrats and two-thirds (68%) of independents who say they view the law unfavorably.
Only 31 percent of independents view Trump’s BBB favorable.
If these polling numbers are in the ballpark, and I suspect they are, Republicans are in trouble if they kill these extended subsidies.
Is Any Benefit Ever Temporary?
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021 provided “temporary” enhanced tax credits to adults who purchased their own health insurance through the Marketplaces.
Democrats made the enhanced tax credits “temporary” to reduce the alleged costs.
Both parties do this to avoid budget rules and to make deficits look smaller than everyone who is honest knows they will be.
The BBB budget fight this year was about extending Trump’s first term Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
The TCJA was set to expire this year so Republicans could make that package look smaller than it was.
Extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) individual and estate tax provisions will cost approximately $4 trillion to $5 trillion over the next 10 years. The cost is driven by the extension of rate cuts, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) adjustments, the standard deduction, and the Child Tax Credit.
Trump is attacking Republican House Rep Thomas Massie for not going along with this budget monstrosity.
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed the $4-$5 trillion cost was “just an extension” so it did not violate budget rules.
Somehow, the Obamacare extension is a cost, not an extension.
The OBBA Budget Deficit Shell Game in 10 Pictures
Please consider my June 30, 2025 prophesy The OBBA Budget Deficit Shell Game in 10 Pictures
Republicans charlatans say the One Big Beautiful Act OBBA is really just a continuation of existing policy.
Yeah right. The current TCJA set to expire next year was budgeted for expiring next year. Now it won’t and no one in their right mind thought it would.
Republicans purposely underestimated the budget impact in 2017 and now
Blatant Hypocrisy Everywhere
I am tired of all this hypocrisy, by both parties.
I was against the TCJA because I knew this would happen.
And I was against Biden’s Rescue Plan for the same reason: No one wants to pay for anything.
And I am telling you now what will happen with any “temporary” extension of anything by either party.
When Will Republicans Cave on Democrat’s Government Shutdown Demands?
On October 3, I asked How Quickly Will Republicans Cave on Democrat’s Government Shutdown Demands?
Trump aides are discussing proposals to extend Obamacare subsidies.
Democrats’ Strategy
If Democrats can hang on for the rest of the month, healthcare premium notices will be sent.
Consumers can start shopping for next year’s coverage on November 1. Some ACA participants have already started receiving notifications about next year’s premium increases.
About 24 million people are enrolled in ACA (Obamacare) coverage. Roughly that many people will not be happy with sticker shock.
TACO Coming Up
Expect a TACO from Trump by the end of the month. The Senate will easily go along.
Then expect Trump to browbeat any House Republicans who refuse to go along.
House Speaker Mike Johnson will sing the praises of Trump’s great deal, no matter what it is.
And Trump will brag about extending Obamacare.
The flack I got from MAGA supporters in my comments sections was amusing. Many attacked the the Wall Street Journal just for saying their were discussions.
Specifically, the Journal stated “Inside the White House, aides are discussing proposals to extend the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act health-insurance plans, the officials said.”
Fake News Definition
The definition of “fake news” is anything someone does not want to believe.
Unsurprisingly, this is true of both parties.
Now, factor in the polling numbers that I was not even aware of until today.
Oops, I forgot. That KKK poll must be fake news too, until Trump brags about extending these tax credits.
Then we will find out this was some sort of 5D thinking maneuver and Trump was really in favor all along.
In case you have not figured this out, look for a second “temporary” extension of these extended Obamacare subsidies to “hold down the costs”.
Related Posts
December 16, 2023: In How Many Ways are President Biden and Trump Alike?
More than most care to admit, Trump stands with Biden in many ways. I count 18 similarities. How many can you name?
Here is point #16: Both are fiscally irresponsible. Both pretend not to be. Deficits and debt prove it. So does the fact that neither wants to address Social Security and both want more money for the military.
April 24, 2025: I’m Accused of Never Supporting Trump. Let’s Have a Fact Check
A reader said he knows where I stand.
May 12, 2025: The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Will Continue Spending at Biden’s Level
Republicans Surrender
Please note The GOP Surrenders on Medicaid
The House bill shrinks from a fight over able-bodied men on the dole.
The work requirement doesn’t kick in until 2029—a political lifetime from now. The bill also sets up a waiver process, which states have long abused to evade work rules in food stamps.
But far more notable is that the bill fails to end Medicaid’s outrageous bias toward prime-age men who can work. The feds pay 90% of the cost of able-bodied adults eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act—but only roughly 50% to 77% (depending on the state) for pregnant women, the blind and so on.
Republicans won’t even insist that able-bodied persons must work.
Pathetic.
Pathetic was a good one word summary of the Republican budget surrender.
Dear MAGA fans, have you forgotten that surrender already? I suspect you have, so please note US Debt Now Grows by $1 Trillion Every 150 Days
Well, not to worry, tariff collection will surely grow by $1 trillion every 150 days to cover it. Won’t it?
What’s Gold’s Message?
On September 2, 2025 I wrote Gold Surges Above $3,600 to New Record High Despite a Rising Dollar
A Word About Faith
Gold does not believe the Fed is under control, Congress is under control, budget deficits are under control, and Trump is under control.
And neither do I.
On October 8, 2025 gold hit $4,066. Do you understand the message?
Did the Kaiser survey ask the question: What would you be willing to pay in additional taxes to cover the costs of Obamacare?
“Is Any Benefit Ever Temporary?”
Democrats always claim granny and children are going to die, if a benefit is terminated. It is an effective way to scare politicians into maintaining the benefit status quo.
Gold just hit $4,000 an ounce due to the effort to maintain the benefit status quo. $5,000 an ounce is no longer the pipe dream it once seemed. Some are now talking of 8 to 10K. That used to be crazy talk. Was just reading that the Roman Denarius went from 100% silver, to virtually no silver, when the western empire collapsed. Bread and circuses. History is rhyming.
The definition of “fake news” is anything someone does not want to believe.
Fake News is lies. I keep reading about mainstream media stories that are nothing but propaganda. The Ukraine war was not unprovoked, as the media constantly claim. It’s just Goebbels media repetition, to propagandize the American public. Official government disinformation, “safe and effective, is also Fake News, as the media parrots it, rather than seeking the truth.
The crazy thing about this is that the cost of extending the enhanced tax credits is about $35 billion per year (out of a budget of appx. 7,000 billion per year). This is what they are fighting over! The shutdown itself is likely going to cost more than that.
seems like another cooked survey
We have several family acquaintances who work for big health insurance corps.. Cigna specifically… One couple owns horses and just put in a new in ground pool next to the big addition they added to their 3000 sq ft house.. the other couple bought a second house on a lake and is planning to retire at age 50.
Yet we have morons here on this comments section telling us the problem is working class Americans who want “something for nothing.”
Don’t you ever get tired of that boot in your mouth, fools?
I’m not seeing the connection. So modest success after living the American dream, and enjoying some of your accomplishments is the real problem in your world? People used to complain about billionaire mega yachts now it’s upper middle class swimming pools.
US life expectancies, access to care, and health outcomes are well below other Western democracies in spite of far more spending. We’re propping up an entire parasite class for worse outcomes. And there are fools that still defend it… Incredible. People will waste breath worrying about migrants getting health services, but billions flowing into corporations literally designed to skim off our entire health care system are no big deal.
Why does your anecdotal evidence require name-calling?
I feel disgust towards many of my fellow Republicans. These same Republicans who now support Obamacare subsidies were passionately against Obamacare in the beginning. They have drifted to the left which is their right but what’s so offensive about it is they have no awareness of this whatsoever. That’s the problem with any big new leftist program, once it starts it becomes entrenched and even right wingers defend the hell out of it. Another thing that raises my blood pressure is all my fellow Republicans who toss around the “Socialism” word all the time. They accuse Democrats of being Socialist yet they love (and in many cases are recipients of) Socialist type programs.
Surprisingly, the WP editorial board just admitted that Obamacare was never actually affordable. Healthcare won’t become affordable until people pay based on their risk & are forced to take steps to become more healthy.
“Healthcare won’t become affordable until people pay based on their risk & are forced to take steps to become more healthy.” Really?
Is that true for Europe, too? Much of that continent has ‘socialized’ medicine not based on individual risk premia and spends WAY less than the US does on healthcare.
Europe is generally healthier than the US.
Breaking: most people support free govt stuff until you explain the costs to them.
What “costs to them”?
As many posters note here on a regular basis, only so many Americans pay federal income tax in the first place.
And some people want these programs to be available, even if they are ‘taking advantage’ of them.
There are lots of us that have never received an unemployment check in their life – after decades of work. But many might answer a survey question in the affirmative when asked “Should Congress keep short-term federal unemployment benefits, or instead scrap the unemployment insurance program altogether?”
Hence the problem. Short term benefits are easy to understand it’s “I get free stuff yay!”
Talking about long term economic damage and the ultimate costs is like trying to tell a 5 year old to brush their teeth so they don’t have gum disease when they’re 40.
The “long term economic damage” never seems to happen though. We keep getting richer on the whole. You could end Social Security tomorrow and let 10s of millions of elderly starve and die. That would certainly enhance workers take home pay. But it would also take 10s of millions of consumers out of the economy, reducing production and other workers pay. The economy is simply a flow of money. Some of that money needs to be apportioned for production, and some for consumption. Increased demand naturally leads to increased supply. Unless, of course, there are artificial constraints on supply, such as monopoly control.
Never seems to happen? Look at the Great Depression, collapse of the Roman empire, Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, the Weimar Republic. It can and has happened many times.
The intelligent knows that these subsidies do not make health care more affordable. (What you subsidize tends to become more expensive…) The intelligent among Marketplace insurance purchasers think that the money is coming from the government, not from them. A little further thinking they think it comes from other taxpayers, not them. Democrats and other government spenders promote that sort of foolishness.
There are many articles and books about how messed up health care has become.
When the rubber hits the road and danger is seen ahead the people start demanding that the rich pay higher taxes. See France. As demands to spend continue to increase it exceeds the ability to collect so much money from the rich. If the nation is Bernie-Sanders-lucky, they don’t have rich people anymore. Everything started to decay some time earlier, (People begin to reread ‘Atlas Shrugged’) Much of Europe such as Britain and France are further in this direction than we are.
With the playing pieces available you’ve got to work on staying healthy and not getting sick or injured. The systems to help you get well again are slowly breaking down.
All this says is that a large percentage of Americans really do believe money grows on trees.
Or just that people aren’t informed and were not given enough information to make a legitimate judgment call.
Tump is supposedly firing laid off workers. The way it sounds he want to punish dem fed workers. Between doge big balls and the voter registration file from the state he sure has the info to drop the hammer on the dem workers.
Same thing with the generals. If it comes down to military in the midterms. He will be able to use the physical fitness rule to get rid of any general he wants.
The subsidies in question were put in place for the COVID SCAMDEMIC. These are not the original Obamacare subsidies.
This point continues to get lost in all the reporting on this issue!
Subsidies increase costs. As usual, government made the problem worse, unless you’re an insurance company, hospital, EHR company or consulting company. They did great!
Why is US health care 17.5% of GDP while other western democracies average 10%? Does our health care system have better outcomes, longer longevity than the others?
Do the math; that’s 5 trillion a year in excess of average industrialized country expenditures.
Paradoxically, if the US adopted other western approaches to health care, the annual 35 billion to supplement ACA, 1. wouldn’t be needed and 2. is chump change.
It costs money to not have socialism.
To say that our healthcare system is not entirely a creature of government intervention would be dishonest. Our healthcare system is not socialist, but it is very socialistic in design and function. Suffice it to say, we do not have much of an operating free market in the provision of healthcare in the United States.
My math is bad; the difference is 7.5% x 29 trillion = 2175 billion, or 2.175 trillion …
Insurance megacorps getting paid.
Where is the money to come from!!!!!!!!!!
Tarrifs!
Trump Bucks coming soon
“A majority of Americans support the extension of ACA subsidies”
We need to increase military spending and fund the Golden Dome. We’re borrowing over $2 trillion a year, but we need to extend tax cuts.
Somebody has to shoulder the pain. SNAP, Medicaid, now ACA. What’s next?
If these subsidies didn’t exist there would be pressure on healthcare providers to stop raising costs astronomically… of course wouldn’t work solely but the current system reinforces itself and nothing is going stop it — something significant but something has to happen to get the system back to providing quality healthcare at reasonable prices (both of which lack imo). So the more people that drop out of healthcare entirely the better for everyone in the long run.
I have an idea. Cut the subsidies by 70%. With the remaining 30%, give people healthcare debit cards redeemable only at doc offices with board certified docs. This would cut out insurance networks and pre-negotiated nonsense. It would make possible negotiation between doc and patient.
Cash payers get better deals because they get the money at time of service. Simplify the payer part of healthcare.
Sounds good in theory until you get cancer and the total cost of treatment is $200,000. A debit card with a few thousand dollars a’int gonna cover that. This is why it’s called health insurance. Everywhere else in the developed world but here they have figured this out… and without individuals (who may be medically incapacitated) having to resort to haggling with every doctor, lab, hospital, medical equipment provider, etc.
The hospitals cant refuse an er visit. They pass those cost on to insured and private pay. Less people on ins the higher the cost for those that are.
I think people will spend all their money to stay alive. Looks like a big wealth transfer before prices would drop.
My household gets about $17,000/yr in ACA premium subsidies, claiming roughly median hosehold income. I retired early in 2016, as soon as I knew ACA would become available to me in 2017. I can dial my taxable income into just about whatever number I want it to be, every single year. If that’s not a stark indication that the extended subsidies are a bad idea, I don’t know what will be.
If you poll people to ask if the government should give everyone $1 million dollars, you are also going to get blowout polling numbers, but that does not mean it’s the right thing to do.
I’d like to see other polling results with varied approaches to the question.
You can get 60% of the population to support anything, if you phrase the question properly, especially if people don’t know anything about the issue.
In this case, “Most Adults Have Heard Little or Nothing About the Enhanced Subsidies” (direct quote from the KFF study cited by NBC).
In this case, after confirming that most people don’t know much about the issue, the follow up question elicits a biased response by suggesting the conclusion and omitting any mention of either the actual cost, or other policy alternative options.
Here’s the KFF survey question:
“Do you think Congress should extend these enhanced tax credits, or should they let these enhanced tax credits expire?”
If the question had been phrased as “Should Congress add $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion) to the national debt, which will cost $40,000,000,000 ($40 billion) per year in additional interest payments forever, so that 6% of the population can continue to receive a temporary subsidy for their healthcare?” … I suspect the poll answers would be the opposite!
You posted the same thing yesterday, and no one responded. Maybe others are tired of the whataboutism?
Maybe try publishing your own survey instead? How about trying out these questions on your own polling subjects?
Last year, the enhanced ACA subsidies cost $35B (not $1T) to cover 22M people. Last month, the US Treasury collected $35B in tariffs. Do you want to let the ACA subsidies expire?
Research has determined that x% of the enhanced ACA subsidy recipients will likely die next year if they don’t receive healthcare because they don’t have insurance coverage. Do you want to let those ACA subsidies expire?
Currently, enhanced ACA subsidy recipients still have to pay their own co-pays and deductibles under ACA. Without enhanced subsidies, many of the 22M recipients will go without insurance and visit ERs without any real means to pay. Do you want to let the ACA subsidies expire?
Would you expect the ‘opposite’ answers now? NO, because these questions I just asked are clearly biased. The initial KFF survey question was not biased, but it probably doesn’t fit your political POV either.
It’s not whataboutism to expect that surveys be done with multiple and balanced approaches to a question, it’s basic polling science.
What you and Mish posted is known as a Push Poll, because it steers respondents to a particular answer instead of getting them to consider the question fully.
Now, the information you’ve added seems to be in desperately short supply among the masses. We elect Representatives and Senators to look into these things and find compromises. But instead of sharing facts and compromising, they’re entrenched in hardened and biased opinions, and failing to do their Constitutional duties.
OMB Russ Vough: the layoffs resumed. OMB update soon.
Article misrepresents what is happening. The OBBBA did not end the special ACA subsidies, except for illegal immigrants. The continuing resolution the Dems keep opposing, would extend ACA subsidies as they are for US citizens and legal residents. If the shutdown goes past the end of the year (unlikely), then lots of government benefits could be impacted, but that should be blamed on Dems who are stubbornly opposing a clean CR.
The only solution left is Modern Monetary Theory. Fiscal responsibility was shot in the head by Ronald Reagan in 1980. It is dead. It has been dead for 45 years. Trying to force it back to life will do vastly more economic damage than borrowing like drunken sailors until whatever catastrophe in the future happens. 5 years off, 10years off, 15 years off, who cares? In the light of day, they will be vastly better prepared to deal with it then than we could ever be to deal with it in total darkness now.
A little perspective is in order. Extending the ACA enhanced tax credit will cost $35 billion per year.
The US Treasury recently agreed to spend $20 billion to bail out the lunatic president of Argentina, to postpone the collapse that his economic policies are causing. Of course the US Treasury Secretary’s hedge fund buddies will benefit as well.
Which spending would better benefit the American people?
This is not a case of which is better.
It’s a case of what should we do.
Unrelated issues have no part of the discussion.
The budget shutdown is not about spending priorities? OK.
Mish, I think that we should allow people to look at the ACU “Potential Prices” going into 2026, as my thoughts are, by 2027 this will be well behind us.
Have the bean counters come up with an “Estimated Amount” based upon the Only Needed Changes, and Nothing New right now.
If we are still hung up in 2027, then have a new plan in place with estimated numbers again.. this is what we pay the keepers of the gate for right? Go right to that and adjust as needed until 2028 if required.
This link will tell you what premium to expect, both with or without ACA premium extensions:
https://www.kff.org/interactive/how-much-more-would-people-pay-in-premiums-if-the-acas-enhanced-subsidies-expired/
Argentina is actually doing quite a bit better under Milei’s policies. Most of the lags in the economy are the direct result of piss poor Peronist policies that are still in effect.
The problem with polling about Obamacare is that most people who have employer-provided -subsidized insurance have no clue about the actual cost of medical insurance.
I cite my brother-in-law (engineer) as my anecdotal evidence.
Exactly! My wife’s company is now showing the premium she will pay per paycheck and the amount the company is covering.
For the family plan, her bi-weekly payroll deduction is $320 while the company pays $1089. So the total bi-weekly is $1409. Multiply that by 26 weeks and the grand total of insurance to cover a family is $36,634. Now this does not include the co-payment nor the $750 per person and $3000 per family deductible
This does not include Dental and Vision. Dental is $42 per paycheck and Vision is $25. So add another $1820 to the total. So all in all, health insurance it around $40k for the year.
The other issue to note is she’s paying ~20% of overall premium while employed. What is the retiree premium for a couple, provided the company even offers retiree medical? I suspect she’s on the hook for more than 75% if they do (retiring before 65yo).
Even if her company offers retiree medical, do they kick the retirees into a risk pool separate from active employees?
I hope you have your house paid off because you’ll need those funds and more to fund your healthcare!
So yeah, this isn’t a shocker…….”59% of Republicans and 82% of Independents Favor Extending Obamacare Subsidies”.
40K is insane.
Unless your family is incredibly unhealthy (someone born with a chronic disease from birth) there is no way you are using 40K worth in a year. Maybe I’m fortunate but my family (3) probably uses less than 1000 a year unless there is an emergency.
You’d be way better off just getting 40K in a tax free HSA account and negotiating for what you need (I have my family on the highest deductible possible in an HSA and instead put 4K tax free + 1K company match into the account that I can invest the money to increase the value and I keep it forever).
Tim, you seem to be another poster here not fully recognizing the difference between health insurance and healthcare.
No, I definitely doubt his family incurs $40K in healthcare expenses every year. But he probably does not get the option of “getting $40K (cash) in a tax free HSA account”; that’s not how most US employers offer insurance benefits. They offer health insurance, not healthcare expense reimbursement.
But the $40K is a realistic expense (it’s actually what the business pays an insurance company) for covering multiple people in this family – as an average for its workforce. If anyone in the company (or its insurance cohort) gets a brain tumor or a long-term cancer patient or other expensive chronic disease, that diagnosis alone will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. So everyone has to pay enough annually to compensate the risk for that insurance company incurring such an expensive expense over the long term – when it’s practically guaranteed to occur for someone in the insurance plan.
Ex – $40K x 20 employees (and their spouse coverage) = $800K per year. How much is left over – after paying actual expenses for regular doctor visits and pharmacy subsidies that year – for when someone has a heart attack or cancer? Not very much.
I get the difference between insurance and health care.
And yes, no company is going to give 40K in an HSA account (or even 20K, my company only gives 1K and I think that’s nice).
But the other point that not many understand is that health care is WAY over priced if you just look at what’s billed. When the misses needed an MRI I got one for 300 cash from my HSA. But if you go thru your insurance and look at the billing, the facility will bill thousands for that same MRI (because it gets negotiated down and they have to fill out oodles of paper work that cash payers don’t require and they get paid immediately etc).
That’s why I went the HSA route and pay cash for 99% of things. For the 1% (major injury from say car wreck or a sudden chronic disease/heart attack) of things I have insurance to fall back on. That’s what insurance should be for, just catastrophic things, not every day care. The equivalent would be changing home insurance from catastrophes to covering things like getting house painted / remodeled via insurance. Of course costs would get out of control.
Doesn’t matter what’s billed on the invoice; just matters what is paid out by insurance.
KSU82 and the employer pays $36K for insurance for 2; he’s liable for only $750 deductible himself. But you don’t tell us what you pay for your catastrophic insurance, plus the potentially thousands per year that may not be covered if you have a non-catastrophic covered injury.
Two different people. Two different choices. That’s called a marketplace.
But private insurance to cover all possibilities is not cheap. That’s why many other countries go with a different system to insure people collectively. Choice just depends upon what you value most
Yes, and their ignorance fuels their confidence. People who have er provided healthcare need to shut their mouths. They have no idea what they’re talking about.
“That KKK poll”
The Klu Klux Klan does polling?
The Chinese letters were especially inappropriate in that this was the Day that, after three thousand years of bedlam and fighting, there is PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
=======
THOSE TRUMP;S WORDS.!! he literally posted those.
uneducated moron really think IT IS END OF MIDDLE EAST PROBLEMS! like forever.
BIDEN LOOKS BETTER AND BETTER!
alx
re: polling … Maybe the administration is not planning to have 2026 midterms. The recent CSPAN question from the republican military wife to Mikey should at least promote a bipartisan bill splitting out a continuation of military pay and essential worker pay during the impasse. Which politicians are not going to vote for that?
US and world about to find out more on the dependency on China for rare earths
https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zwgk/zcfb/art/2025/art_7fc9bff0fb4546ecb02f66ee77d0e5f6.html
….Huge escalation by China!
MOFCOM announces new exports controls taking effect after Dec 1 of rare earths to anyone anywhere in the world producing chips or equipment to make chips below 14nm or 256 layer memory due to “military applications”…
Without serious restrictions on the pols who run government, democracy is doomed to failure. I’d like to see a baseline budget and tax increases for program extensions or new programs. how many large, bottomed Americans would favor the Obamacare increases if they paid for it?
Taco continues to prove time and time again that all he cares about is himself, his family and his billionaire cronies.
Who helped you type this? Also, who ties your shoes?
US equity markets are tumbling following comments from President Trump threatening “a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products” being imported into the US, accusing China of becoming “hostile” due to their export controls
=====
as i posted a few hours earlier : Trump DID NOT GET Nobel. EXPECT FiREWORKS!!!
trump is simpleton!! at least Clinton had not-bad-looking intern to have emotions under control!!
alx
Trump doesnt deserve the nobel prize but that would be pretty ironic if someone got mad for not winning a peace prize.
The problem is that Congress has been unable to address the underlying problems (many) of the health “care” industry for decades.
=unable
it is hard to something, if you are paid = brIbed NOT TO!
I am new too ACA and I was shocked that I qualified for subsidies. I refused them. They were meant to be temporary. Medical care is not a right but a privilege. When it is free there will be people that run to the doctor for absolutely everything which will continue to drive up the price for everyone! I can see an income based subsidy but right now it is waaaay too generous. Also, no one should get it for free, there must be some commensurate payment required for its use to discourage overuse.
“free”. The use of this word has been the cause of an incredible amount of publicly voiced stupidity.
This is about the additional subsidy in the Inflation Reduction Act added by Joe Biden after the pandemic that was scheduled already to expire at the end of this year
On Oct 18 Chuck will sap Trump power. He conspired with Bernie, AOC, MAGA and 300K gov workers to cause the reps a lot of damage. The poll convinced him that he is winning. He will not disappoint Trump’s new enemies. The stalement might cont. Chuck will not budge. Russ Vough will not budge. He will cut gov debt and the deficit. Trump lost Nobel Prize 2025 to Maria Machado from Venezuela. SPX is turning around.
How much reefer did you have today?
Time to join the rest of the civilized world and make health care a right provided by or heavily subsidized by taxes.
You can’t fix a cost problem with subsidizing by definition. No one works for free and there is only so much of other people’s money. Try throwing the extortionists in prison and it will cease to be a problem.
There’s no such thing as a natural “human right” that requires extorting money from others under threat of government force.
P.S. Rights are not “made” by governments, they are fundamental to being alive and human.
I hear Cuba’s healthcare is awesome! I saw it in a movie.
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but every time I go back to Canada the ‘free’ health care there just sounds worse and worse.
It’s bad enough that my 80s something parents pay a few hundred a month for private health insurance to speed things up. I was talking to my Sister last month when I was there and she needs to go for an MRI and was told it was going to take a couple of months to be scheduled and her husband needed some prostrate exam/surgery and was told at least 8 months or more. I told her that was nuts and that if I needed an MRI, I could get one in a couple of days since the misses needed one in the summer and we called around and paid 300 from our health savings account (tax free money) and got one scheduled in 2 days.
Canadian health care is bad now even if it’s government paid. The huge influx of immigrants has overwhelmed the system so the wait to be seen or schedule anything is outrageous. Plus any decent Doctor (specialist) packs up and leaves for the US where they can open a private practice and make serious coin.
Trying to avoid the obvious answer
30% of medical spending is burned up in the insurance process
Where is the value in that?
15 years of R’s trying to deny the fact that insurance is eating healthcare
Unable to bring themselves to admit it
Using the Obamacare to both whip and hide behind
but, the R’s are gonna cave because red will burn first in this dumpster file
Before the 2026 elections…
lol, I missed the part where ACA got rid of insurance. You people are so ignorant. Obama’s goal was to get those uninsurable to get insurance as he thought that was the same thing as healthcare access. Because he’s an idiot. Even a cursory review of ACA plans shows the problem with this thinking…. that deductibles are so high that it’s impossible to actually get services. Because it’s still insurance.
Please…. just try reading before typing.
I would argue what is called “health insurance” isn’t even insurance. It doesn’t cover an unlikely event. It “covers” guaranteed expenditures. The cost of “insurance” for a house that is on fire would be the cost of replacing the house plus profit for the “insurer”. Absolutely no benefit unless the insured can shove a gun in someone else’s face to make them pay. Even worse you have to continue to pay “health insurers” year after year even after the rare event happened and the loss occurred. They also make price fixing and extortion contracts with health providers so if you don’t pay the “health insurance” protection money that you’ll be financially ruined.
You’re likely correct and thank you for the very good analysis. In a very strange quirk of history, the President I most wanted Mr. Trump to follow is….. William Jefferson Clinton. Oddly enough, Mr. Clinton reduced the federal bureaucracy by over 400,000 personnel and created a surplus where once was a deficit. Mr. Gingrich et al were also responsible for this, but Mr. Clinton deserves credit where it is due. Sadly, Mr. Trump already took a wrecking ball to federal service and it appears deficits are never going to be eliminated.
Good stuff, as usual. The Republicans are going to cave. It is only a matter of how stubborn they want to be, and cause more damage to themselves.
He who can successfully frame an argument almost always wins. The Democrats, though inept and bumbling themselves, have stumbled into a winning framing: its all about the Obamacare subsidies.
When even M T-G sees the light, you know that the bespeckled cretin Mike Johnson is headed for another humiliating defeat. The FSA always wins*!
*FSA = Free stuff army; substitute stronger language if you want to.
The poll: most people want a “cheap” Obamacare. OBBBA would increase the budget
deficit. U can’t always get what u want.
I wonder how many would favor socialized medicine and just eliminating the insurance industry?
Supposedly Luigi Mangione a millionaire from a millionaire family killed the CEO of United Healthcare because his mom was denied coverage
Seems weird not to be talking about silver today….
Who doesn’t believe free money is the answer.
Drew Altman understands that no one wants to be known as the piker that denies the unfortunate, be they insurance companies, money.
I said in a different post, Governments and Central Banks hate the word deflation. They would rather have high inflation and people working than a recession and out of work angry people. The answer is always to give out more tax payer money (also helps with your next election). Luckily, as of now, the tax payers have not been asked to pay back the accumulated 37 trillion of debt. I just read this today.
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Across New York City, 3.53 million residents are set to receive inflation refund checks of up to $400. Have you gotten yours yet? If not, keep reading.
The checks are part of a statewide initiative spearheaded by Gov. Kathy Hochul to give mostly middle-class New Yorkers a boost against what she called a pandemic-driven increase in prices.
Even higher inflation is the obvious solution to too much inflation. Just ask Hochul.