Trump and Fitz desperately try to change the blame for their GOP idiocy on health care

Republicans continue to flail in the wake of huge jumps in out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare insurance, and their stupefying refusal to restore the subisidies that would cut the amount that everyday Americans would pay for that insurance.

So now their latest strategy is to....blame insurance companies?

An unserious man

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— Daniel A Collier, PhD (@dcollier74.bsky.social) November 8, 2025 at 9:55 AM

So instead of making insurance companies compete at scale and have consumers choose what is best for them, Trump wants to give Americans a VOUCHER to go to insurance companies, and not have any baseline services required or any controls on the costs of those insurance policies?

We already tried this idea, with Paul Ryan in the 2010s.

This VOUCHERcare idea from Trump sounds familiar. Oh yeah! Here it is! www.americanprogress.org/article/ryan... @pamherd.bsky.social @bbkogan.bsky.social

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— jakemadtown.bsky.social (@jakemadtown.bsky.social) November 8, 2025 at 10:39 AM

Ryan's plan was so flawed and ridiculous that it was laughed out of the room and never brought up for a vote because the idea was so toxic.

We got a similar kind of deflection from the Koched-up insurrectionist piece of human garbage known as Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, who shrugs and says ending the tax credits really didn't raise premiums that much anyway.

According to the Paragon Health Institute, the end of those temporary subsidies accounts for only 3-4% of projected premium increases for a typical Obamacare plan in 2026, with most of the increases being driven by other factors like the lingering effects of inflation and new innovative but expensive drugs and technology. Even without the enhanced COVID-era subsidies, the federal government will still cover more than 80% of premiums for most enrollees through the regular subsidies.

It's cute to see Fitzgerald use a study from the Paragon Institute as evidence that dumping the tax credits aren't a reason for the premium hikes, because the Paragon Institute is a Koched-up RW front group whose only goal is to wreck Obamacare any way they can.

After those alternate facts from Troll Scotty, we continue with Rep. Fitzgerald's flop-sweaty justifications.

It's true that some enrollees with incomes just above four times the federal poverty level will see higher costs because they lose eligibility for premium subsidies. But that group is small, only about 7% of all Exchange enrollees according to KFF. The Urban Institute estimates the uninsured rate for these families would rise by only 5%, because many can access employer coverage or are willing to pay the full premium.

Most enrollees, those with incomes under 250% of the federal poverty level who receive the largest subsidies and make up about three-quarters of all Exchange enrollees would see premiums rise by only around $62.50 per month, according to the Urban Institute. This is far from the “doubling” scare the Democrats are pushing.

In addition to the fact that there have been numerous reports around the state and country about people paying more than double for their insurance vs what they're paying now, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 38% of Wisconsinites that receive insurance through the exchanges have incomes about 250% of the poverty line, or more than 121,000 of those insured. That's not 25% Fitz, and it is not an insignificant number of people.

Let's also go back to the Congressional Budget Office's estimates and see what they had to say about what the lack of tax credits are doing to people's costs.

CBO also estimates that gross premiums for benchmark plans in the marketplaces would be 7.6 percent lower, on average, in each year from 2026 to 2035, relative to baseline projections. (The premium estimates reflect the amount before the tax credit is applied.) The estimated decline in benchmark premiums is the result of the expectation that people enrolling in the marketplaces would be healthier on average if the expanded premium tax credit were extended.

That's basically double the increase what Fitzgerald's stink tank claims, and Fitzgerald also neglects to mention that the higher premiums also mean higher taxpayer costs for those who still are eligible for the tax credits.

In addition, employer-based insurance will likely become more expensive (and likely has, if you checked your open enrollment info), as some people decide to choose that over Obamacare, or go uninsured and have more expensive services when they use emergency rooms instead of regular check-ups. In both cases, those (often sicker or older) individuals can drive up overall costs for the insurance company, who then raise everyone else's premiums.

Fitzgerald also gives a zombie lie about Democrats wanting to give ACA coverage to illegal immigrants (this is both not true and disallowed under the ACA). And then he claims that the expansion of the tax credits that lowered costs for everyday Americans was a distortion, and that allowing them to expire is just the way things should work out. OK Scotty, you tell Wisconsinites whose out-of-pocket premium costs have doubled that it's just something they should suck up.

Somehow, the GOP thinks they can use the higher premiums caused by their negligence and arrogance as a reason to get of the Obamacare exchanges. And while I'm all about hating insurance companies, using that earned hatred to mess up the ACA seems like an idiotic strategy. As tens of millions of Americans have gotten insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, the ACA's favorability has continued to climb, to the point that it is liked by a nearly 2-1 margin.

Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress points out that there is a consistency with what Trump/GOP is doing here.

The new GOP talking point again premium tax credits is an argument against *all* demand-side assistance. Don’t help people buy health insurance because money flows to insurers? That’s also an argument against SNAP and WIC — dollars flow to grocery stores. Just an excuse to not help people.

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM

This is what the Republicans want for the vast majority of Americans. To have us beholden to businesses who are able to limit the options consumers have, allowing a chosen few to dictate the costs and choices to the rest of us. In reality, if we are really concerned about unchecked power of insurance companies to raise premiums and get profits from government subsidies, there are two things yhay can be done.

1. Have a baseline government-run insurance policy that also appears on the Obamacare exchanges, which limits the rate of profit and overhead. Call it a public competition, or extra option, or something like that.

2. There's an even easier way to take soulless, corportate insurance companies out of the equation.

#MedicareForAll

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— Lara7CA (@laravp7.bsky.social) November 9, 2025 at 12:57 PM

Let's ask all Republicans on the Hill if they really want to deal with the remaining flaw of the Affordable Care Act - the fact that it still relies on private insurance companies to offer the health coverage and options that Americans need.