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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Yesterday two competing health care bills failed in the U.S. Senate. Neither got the 60-votes necessary to move forward. Republicans favored a bill that would have put more money into health care savings accounts. Democrats wanted a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies. Remember, the Dems said ‘no’ to a one year extension during the government shutdown. That would have propped up Obamacare through the 2026 midterm elections, where perhaps Democrats would have had more members in Congress and could have passed different bills.
It’s the Republicans who continue to get the messaging wrong on the issue,
Recall: Obamacare was passed in 2010 without a single Republican voting for it on Capitol Hill.
Recall: We were promised that if you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor… and if you liked your health plan, you could keep your health plan. That’s not how things worked out.
Recall: We were promised that there would be more competition between insurance companies and that would force prices down. Today there is less competition and premiums are up.
And now Republicans are told that they need to approve the extra funding to keep Obamacare afloat. They need to rescue a program that was written by the other party that none of them voted for. So Democrats, who control nothing in Washington DC, not the White House, not the Senate or the House, propose a bill on their own that Republicans won’t support. To them the only solution is to shovel another $1.4-trillion into a failing healthcare system. Well, no, it doesn’t work that way. This is a simple case of you broke it, you fix it.
Democrats also know a dirty little secret. The subsidies cover about 22-million Americans. We’re a nation of 364-million. The premium hikes are a talking point that impacts only a small number of people. Not enough to sway an election.
Chris Conley
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