Earlier this month we learned the Obamacare premium subsidies that were included in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2022.
Got an Obamacare subsidy? Your premiums are about to go up, and you’re probably going to get a letter informing you of your new jacked-up fees right before the midterms. Naturally, Democrats are concerned this is going to add to their political problems.
“Right before the election, people would get notices of big premium increases, and that will certainly not reflect well on Democrats,” Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told The Hill.
You think?
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Knowing that this is already a disastrous political climate for their party, 26 vulnerable House Democrats are trying to stave off the expiration of the subsidies. They sent a letter to House leadership, urging them to extend the allowance.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average premium increase would be 53% and will impact about 13 million people.
Without any Republican support, extending the subsidies would require a party-line vote via the reconciliation process to bypass a GOP filibuster in the Senate. But moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has already shown little appetite for doing so.
Obamacare has been rife with problems ever since it was rushed through Congress and signed into law in 2010. Barack Obama made multiple unconstitutional “fixes” to the legislation via executive action, and Joe Biden has as well.
Americans are already paying more at the pump and at the grocery store. A spike in insurance premiums would make their already dire situation catastrophic.
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