“Tell the stories of how we won our freedom from outsiders. But also tell the stories of how we freed some of us from the rest of us…

“Here we will treat you as a man and a brother, no matter who you are, and nowhere else can promise that.”

www.cato.org/commentary/a...

In 2021, Congress created temporary “enhanced” premium subsidies for Obamacare enrollees.

Subsidies became available to households earning up to $600,000 per year. Some households earning $500,000 per year became eligible for subsidies of $7,000.

How to describe the impact of disappearing premium subsidies accurately, without spin:

Enrollees now paying 0-10% of the premium may have to pay 10-20% of a larger premium. Wealthy enrollees will have to pay 100% of the larger premium.

@drewaltman @larry_levitt @cynthiacox @kff

Trump already ran a six-year test that demonstrated that restoring the freedom to choose non-Obamacare plans can provide access to quality, affordable coverage without destabilizing Obamacare — or expanding it, as some Senate Republicans propose.

Obamacare operates on the principle that the government should deliberately increase health insurance premiums for the majority of consumers—to about double what they would otherwise pay—in order to subsidize a minority with expensive medical conditions.

Obamacare premiums are rising 26% while premium subsidies shrink or disappear. Enrollees paying 0-10% of an already excessive premium may have to pay 10-20% of an even larger premium. Wealthy enrollees will have to pay 100% of the larger premium.

Crapo & Cassidy propose a whole new Obamacare entitlement: cash payments into enrollees’ health savings accounts (HSAs). Call it “Obamacash.”

One imagines tears of laughter from Obama that Republicans are proposing to expand his signature law.

Senate Republicans should quit trying to expand Obamacare.

Expanding choice creates better, more affordable insurance — while preserving Obamacare for those who want it.

🚨NEW PAPER🚨

Barack Obama promised that Obamacare would “preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan,” reduce insurance premiums by $2,500, and end discrimination against the sick.

Nope, nope, annnnnnd nope.

I moderated a @theNAMedicine panel on "Improving How We Communicate in Health Policy."

nam.edu/event/improv... @haroldpollack <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xw35ddzmfqtpimppwridjn2n" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@haroldpollack.bsky.social @aaronecarroll @academyhealth.bsky.social @AcademyHealth @meganranney <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gpfewsj5bclvbjsxkpwzkuii" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@meganranney.bsky.social @kmvnarayan14 @CatoHealth

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Congress should free people to buy Obamacare-exempt plans available in US territories (as Obama did) and codify that short-term health plans may offer more consumer protections (as Trump did).

Obamacare would remain for those who want it.

In case you wondered whether the @MerriamWebster folks watch the news.

GOP senators raced to attach an HSA subsidy to the new, fraudulent policy.

The legislative job and the political imperative for the GOP is to serve the consumers who want an end to rising prices, especially in health care.

www.wsj.com/opinion/...

Report: HHS approves 96% of fraudulent Obamacare applications.

GOP cmte chairs: Obamacare should also hand out cash.

🚨NEW PAPER🚨

Obamacare premiums will rise an average 26% in 2026.

Obamacare is reducing health insurance quality and rationing care.

It has provided health care to some, at the cost of making coverage worse and more expensive for far more.

Cassidy & Crapo are proposing "temporary" spending so that past "temporary" spending won't disappear.

No one should pretend we're talking about temporary spending here.

In 2014, Obama clarified that Obamacare’s costliest regulations would not apply in US territories. The relief Obama provided to US territories continues to this day.

All US consumers deserve the same relief.

Senate Rs have released their Obamacare-expanding alternative to Democrats’ Obamacare expansion.

Rather than do the right thing—what Trump showed them how to do in his first term—they are expanding Obamacare by offering new HSA subsidies to enrollees.

Call it ObamaCash.

The problem with HHS, the senators surmised, is that it doesn't write enough checks to people.

🚨NEW PAPER🚨

When Obamacare made coverage unaffordable and rationed care, both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump offered relief. Congress needs to make the relief those two presidents pioneered both universal and permanent.

Leave it to Republicans to turn HSAs into a way to control other people’s money.

Every time government intervention causes patients to suffer, the media and supporters of these laws blame insurers. In nearly 30 years, I cannot recall a single instance in which the media have addressed the government’s role.

Federal debt is the "debt held by the public," currently $30 trillion.

It is not $37-39 trillion. The bonds in the “trust funds” are not debts to the Treasury, for the same reason they are not assets to Social Security & Medicare.