As I write these words, it is Day 10 of a government shutdown. There can be no doubt who is responsible for this shutdown. Republicans passed a clean Continuing Resolution (CR), meaning no additional legislation attached, and Democrats are refusing to support it. Both sides have their arguments for why, but the truth is clear to anyone who has studied the healthcare issues at stake.
I’ve been writing about the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) since 2010 and published my first book, The ObamaCare Train Wreck, in 2014. Much of what I said in that book is being played out in the current political situation.
The Affordable Care Act is unaffordable. That’s the simple truth. It has totally failed to live up to its promises including President Obama’s famous lies that “If you like your plan you can keep your plan” and “It will save every family $2500 per year.”
Since ObamaCare was passed without a single Republican vote, the Democrats are totally responsible for its failure. Therefore, they are doing everything possible to make it more affordable to most Americans by increasing government subsidies. This the fundamental problem behind the current government shutdown.
Why is Chuck Schumer shutting down the government?
There are four reasons why Schumer is making his demands:
- Protecting healthcare for illegal immigrants – The Biden administration gave illegals TPS (Temporary Protective Status) to enable them to get government funded healthcare. The Trump administration revoked this status in the Big Beautiful Bill which was passed without Democratic support. Although polls show a clear majority of Americans do not support taxpayer support of healthcare for illegals, Schumer is trying to reverse this legislation by refusing to pass the CR to keep the government open because the 60 votes needed requires Democratic approval. They deny they are providing healthcare for illegals because they still consider these people to have TPS status.
- Protecting expanded Medicaid eligibility – Medicaid was originally intended only for pregnant women, children, the poor and the disabled. It was never intended for able-bodied adults who refuse to work. ObamaCare changed the eligibility requirements, making able-bodied adults who make less than 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) eligible. Then the Biden administration raised these limits to 400% of FPL using the Covid pandemic as an excuse. Many Americans making even up to $500,000 a year have been placed on Medicaid, many without their knowledge, as the Biden administration increased the rolls of Medicaid. Republicans are not throwing anyone off Medicaid who is eligible by the standards of ObamaCare. They are simply trying to reverse the temporary expansion of Medicaid by President Biden.
- Promoting socialized medicine – It has been a goal of Progressives to have total government control of healthcare – socialized medicine – for nearly a hundred years. ObamaCare moved them closer to this goal, but we still have a thriving private healthcare insurance system. The expansion of Medicaid and ObamaCare and the authorization of healthcare for illegal immigrants moves the country closer to total government control of healthcare. Progressives will not stop the expansion of government sponsored healthcare until they achieve their goal.
- Protecting Chuck Schumer’s political future – It is common knowledge that Schumer fears a primary challenge from rising Democratic threat, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) unless he pleases the Progressive left of his party. He fears for his own political future unless he fights everything the Trump administration tries to do.
The fundamental problem here is the failed Affordable Care Act. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) writing in The Wall Street Journal says, “Average monthly premiums per person skyrocketed from $242 in 2013, the year before ObamaCare was enacted, to nearly $600 in 2019—an increase in costs of about 140% in six years. In the past five years, costs have continued to rise, with 2026 premiums expected to jump 15% over 2025. The federal government has continuously increased subsidies to insurance companies to hide ObamaCare’s affordability failures and spare Americans on ObamaCare from its skyrocketing costs—while everyone’s premiums, copayments and deductibles have soared.”
Since 2014, the share of ObamaCare premium costs paid for by the federal government has risen from 68.4% to 80.3%. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2023 and 2024 alone, the federal government paid more than $200 billion to insurers to keep premium increases artificially low. This is an unsustainable system that feeds billions of taxpayer dollars to insurance companies. The federal government spent $111.2 billion on ObamaCare subsidies last year, sending checks to insurance companies for 19 million recipients. Reports indicate five million of those recipients were ineligible. That means the average American paid $327 of tax dollars last year on these subsidies, of which some $82 covered fraudulent enrollment.
Scott concludes, “It is time to end this madness by lowering the cost of healthcare, encouraging innovation at the state level, stopping fraud and waste in the system, increasing competition in the health insurance and provider markets, and giving the American people the ability to spend healthcare dollars in the way that best meets their individual needs.”
It is also time to end the Schumer madness of shutting down the government to reverse Republican legislation he didn’t have the votes to defeat in the first place. The American people deserve better.
