In the shutdown fight, Democrats are playing their favorite trick on Republicans. They’re demanding a permanent extension of a temporary welfare program, predicting that a crisis will result if the GOP doesn’t act.
But Republicans should see through the current Democratic smokescreen on expanded Obamacare subsidies, like they have the last few times the Left tried this trick. Far from creating a crisis, they’ll preserve affordable healthcare for the vulnerable while protecting taxpayers from unaffordable debt.
Democrats are refusing to reopen the government unless Republicans support the expanded Obamacare subsidies that President Joe Biden created in 2021, ostensibly on a temporary basis. These “COVID credits” are set to expire at the end of the year, at which point they’ll revert to the pre-Biden subsidies. Under this foolish policy, taxpayers are covering most or all of health insurance premiums for more than 10 million people. The COVID-19 credits even cover premiums for wealthier Americans, because Biden and the Democrats blew through Obamacare’s income limits.
GOP UNDER PRESSURE TO PREVENT OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES FROM FUNDING ABORTIONS
Extending the COVID credits would cost nearly $450 billion over the next decade alone, funneling billions of dollars of taxpayer money directly to health insurance companies without making healthcare any more affordable. Yet Democrats are saying that if Republicans don’t make the expanded subsidies permanent, people will die. They’re playing a familiar game, based on false premises.
Think back to 2020. Congress pushed through a massive $600/week unemployment bonus for 25 million people who lost their jobs during the pandemic and resulting government shutdowns. The bonus expired in July 2020, and even though it prevented people from going back to work and cost $15 billion a week, Democrats predicted that millions of people would suffer unimaginable poverty. But Republicans didn’t buy Democratic claims — and the crisis never happened.
The next year, Democrats demanded that Republicans extend the $300 unemployment bonus. Once again, they said an economic crisis would ensue, despite the fact that the bonus kept people from getting back to work when the economy desperately needed it. That also cost tens of billions of dollars. But Republicans didn’t buy Democratic claims — and the crisis never happened.
The year after that, in 2022, the IRS stopped sending monthly $450 checks to households with children—a handout that also kept people out of work and cost $16 billion a month. Democrats said children would starve. But Republicans didn’t buy Democratic claims — and the crisis never happened.
In 2023, 31 million households stopped getting a $200 a month food-stamp bonus. It cost $3.5 billion a month, and Democrats said child nutrition and even survival depended on it. But Republicans didn’t buy Democratic claims — and the crisis never happened.
That same year, the pandemic’s expanded Medicaid coverage ended, saving taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year. Democrats said people would die, but Republicans didn’t buy Democratic claims — and the crisis never happened. Instead, 15 million ineligible people left Medicaid rolls, helping truly vulnerable people get the care they need.
History can — and should — repeat. Once again, Democrats and the media are screaming that the sky is falling because expanded Obamacare COVID credits are set to expire. Once again, if Republicans don’t buy the Democratic claims, no crisis will happen. Instead, Republicans will be doing right by Americans.
The COVID credits are perhaps the most fraud-ridden welfare expansion ever created. The IRS says that of everyone who’s receiving them, 60% misreported their income and are therefore getting fraudulent payments. At least 1.6 million are dual-enrolled in both Obamacare and Medicaid. Health insurers are cashing in because 8 million people have Obamacare plans they never use. That’s $53 billion straight to insurers’ bottom line.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE CONSERVATIVE CASE FOR LETTING ADDED OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES LAPSE
This has nothing to do with affordable healthcare. It’s an organized looting of taxpayers. And if Republicans let the COVID credits expire — as Democrats designed them to do when they created them— vulnerable Americans will still have affordable health options. At that point, the original Obamacare subsidies will go back into force. People at the poverty line will pay less than $4 a week for a zero-deductible Obamacare plan. Someone at 150% of the poverty line will pay just $14 a week.
If this is a crisis, the word has no meaning. But Democrats know that. This isn’t about protecting the vulnerable. It’s about paving the way toward welfare for all, even if it means keeping the federal government closed to get their way. Republicans should do what’s right and let the COVID credits expire. They’ve rightly refused to get tricked before, and they shouldn’t start now.
Tarren Bragdon is President and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability.
