As the open enrollment deadline draws nearer, Trump and Republicans are casting about for a solution to their self-created health care crisis. But instead of cooking up any serious alternatives to reinstating the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that help working families afford lifesaving care, they’re trying to reheat their rotten leftovers. Each of the so-called GOP ‘proposals’ to address their health care crisis goes back to the same old stale idea they’ve been trying all year: ripping health care away from the middle class while giving handouts to the ultra-wealthy. Americans know the tried and true recipe that will keep their premiums affordable in the new year: the ACA tax credits. If Trump and Republicans keep stirring up nothing but headlines until the end-of-year clock runs out, working families will be left holding an empty plate.
🥘 KFF Health News: Trump’s Idea for Health Accounts Has Been Tried. Millions of Patients Have Ended Up in Debt.
- “Fumiko Chino, an oncologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said it makes no sense to expect patients with cancer or another chronic disease to go out and compare prices for complicated medical care such as surgeries, radiation, or chemotherapy after they’ve been diagnosed with a potentially deadly illness.”
- “Chino said patients with high deductibles are often instead slammed with a flood of huge medical bills that lead to debt and a cascade of other problems.”
- “Researchers found in a study presented last year that cancer patients who had high-deductible health insurance were more likely to die than similar patients without that kind of coverage.”
- “‘The notion was that if a consumer has ‘skin in the game,’ they will be more likely to seek higher-quality, lower-cost care,’ said Shawn Gremminger, who leads the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, a nonprofit that works with employers that offer their workers health benefits. ‘The unfortunate reality is that largely has not been the case,’ Gremminger said.”
🍽️ Newsweek: New GOP Plan Would Raise Health Care Premiums for Millions of Americans
- “In plain English, the ‘plan’ is to spend less on subsidies and let consumers pick up the difference. That hits middle‑income families and older pre‑Medicare adults hardest. Especially in states where ACA coverage is already the only realistic option.”
- “Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: ‘On paper, that sounds like a middle-ground approach. In reality, removing these credits without a credible alternative would hit many families hard, especially those already relying on the subsidies to keep coverage affordable. Phasing them out for higher earners makes sense, but it ignores how easily some business owners can adjust income to stay under the limit.’”
🥘 KFF Health News: Out-of-Pocket Pain From High-Deductible Plans Means Skimping on Care
- “But high-deductible plans pose a particular challenge for those with chronic conditions, such as the 38 million Americans who live with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Adults with diabetes who are involuntarily switched to a high-deductible plan, compared with adults on other types of insurance, face an 11% higher risk of being hospitalized with a heart attack, a 15% higher risk of hospitalization for a stroke, and more than double the likelihood that they’ll go blind or develop end-stage kidney disease, according to a study published in 2024.”
🍽️ Common Dreams: Republicans Have No Healthcare Plan Other Than Stealing From You to Enrich Billionaires
- “Republicans keep saying they are about to release a healthcare plan. But they never release anything remotely adequate to meet the American people’s needs. That’s because they don’t want to say their real plan out loud: Take healthcare away from as many Americans as possible, all to give giant tax cuts to billionaires.”
- “As for the ever-anticipated Republican healthcare plan? If they release anything it will be a fig leaf like expanded health savings accounts—which can’t be used to pay for insurance premiums. These are just attempts to shift blame, not get anyone healthcare.”
🥘 New York Times: G.O.P. Senators Push Health Care Options as Vote Looms
- “A progressive health care group immediately decried the bill as an ‘utter joke.’ ‘Republicans are proving once again how unserious they are,’ said Brad Woodhouse, president of the group, Protect Our Care.”
🍽️ Politico: Republicans Have an Affordability Problem. They Can’t Agree on How to Fix It.
- “The GOP is struggling to coalesce behind a health care plan that would prevent Obamacare premium hikes set to kick in next month and efforts to rein in President Donald Trump’s tariffs have run aground in the House.”
- “But GOP leaders in both chambers are scrambling to figure out what pieces of a health care overhaul to put forward — and getting an earful from competing factions within their own party. It’s possible Senate Republicans this week won’t put a consensus GOP alternative up for a vote alongside the three-year extension Democrats want.”
🥘 The American Prospect: Republicans Scramble for Health Care Ideas as Obamacare Deadline Looms
- “Republicans have been flailing around for weeks for some option to prevent these premium hikes that doesn’t involve admitting all their health care ideas are awful and stupid.”
🍽️ CNN: Trump’s First Problem on the Economy and Health Care: Admitting He’s Got a Problem
- “Trump fumes even at the word “affordability” — regarding it as a Democratic “hoax” — and is wallowing in denial about an economy that he claims has entered a “golden age” but that is making many working- and middle-class Americans feel poorer. And while Trump has taken some steps to try to lower costs — of certain prescription drugs, for example — his wider policies may be making the situation worse.”
🥘 The Hill: Frustrated GOP Barrels Toward Key Health Insurance Vote Without a Clear Plan
- “Republicans are worried the subsidies, and health insurance and costs more broadly, could become a major issue in the 2026 midterms that — in a worst-case scenario — could cost them the Senate majority.”
- “The GOP has no consensus on how to proceed on the issue, which may spur a group of Republican senators to cross the aisle next week and vote for a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”