The U.S. Senate on Thursday declined to defuse the Democrats’ looming Obamacare crisis.
The problem is that Democrats, in control of the government a few years ago, created special Obamacare health care premium subsidies, partly attributed to COVID.
But they were extended far beyond COVID and now are scheduled to end on December 31.
With that, those with Obamacare health insurance policies are expected to see massive premium increases, which is why the Schumer Shutdown happened during November, when Democrats refused to allow the federal government to operate in their attempt to force Republicans to raid taxpayers’ wallets for a trillion dollars for the Democrat spending.
That failed, and now the Democrats have failed to convince the GOP to adopt their plan to keep spending billions of dollars on those subsidies for another three years.
The Senate on Thursday rejected the Democrat plan to extend those subsidies, “refusing to let taxpayers mask the skyrocketing costs of health insurance premiums caused by Barack Obama’s 2010 signature legislation,” explained a report at PJMedia.
Not only did senators reject the Democrat extension of those subsidies, they rejected a GOP alternative that would have created new health savings accounts for Americans.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the instigator behind the weeks-long federal government shutdown that injured so many, had warned that unless Republicans adopted his scheme, there would not be another chance to prevent those premium increases.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., explained the extension was no more than “an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling health care costs,” the report said.
The report explained, “Even after a handful of Democrats struck a deal with Republicans last month to end the 43-day government shutdown in exchange for a vote on extending the subsidies, Democrats were unwilling to compromise.”
Republicans have pointed out over and over that the “poorly named” Affordable Care Act actually has driven up health insurance costs.
Several GOP alternatives still await a vote.
The report charged, “It was always unlikely that the subsidies would pass, and Democrats are treating Obamacare like a sacred cow and have shown no interest in actually addressing its problems or the high costs it created.”
