Free Republic

President Trump took to Twitter Monday to ask why insurance companies and Congress are not being hurt by the failings of Obamacare just as the American people are being hit. Trump started the day by noting that the unpopular healthcare law is “hurting people” and asked why it isn’t also hurting insurance companies, and also why Congress is exempt. Trump had previously threatened to end what he called “bailouts” for insurance companies and Congress after the failing of the GOP-led Senate to pass either a healthcare reform bill, a flat-out Obamacare repeal, or a so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare. The...

The President has the authority to eliminate its illegal exemption immediately.President Trump, having watched the Senate writhe in protracted labor for weeks without giving birth to even the ridiculous mouse dubbed “skinny repeal,” has taken to Twitter and issued this ultimatum: “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” It would be unwise for Trump’s enemies — on either side of the aisle — to disregard this as bluster. The President not only possesses the authority to follow through on both threats without consulting Congress,...

President Trump on Monday blasted ObamaCare, saying the healthcare legislation is "hurting people" and questioning why Congress shouldn't be paying the same as the public. "If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn't it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?" On Saturday, he similarly ratcheted up his pressure on lawmakers to pass a healthcare plan with a threat to end ObamaCare's subsidy payments to insurers and cancel some lawmakers' healthcare benefits.

Polls taken by Independent Women’s Voice, a free market group, find that 94 percent of voters think Congress shouldn’t be exempted from the insurance provisions of ObamaCare. Most voters blame both parties equally for the exemption, which means Republicans will also be hurt politically if it stands. “The president should announce that he is instructing OPM to end the exemption and subsidies for Congress,” IWV president Heather Higgins wrote in Monday’s Wall Street Journal. ”If the president does this, he’d have huge negotiating leverage. He would align the interests of the ruling class with those of his voters, forcing Congress...

If President Trump wants to fulfill his repeated promise to end ObamaCare, his best course of action is a radical change in tactics that would hit members of Congress where it hurts – in their wallets.... With a mere stroke of his pen, President Trump could end the exemption that President Obama gave members of Congress and their staffs that makes them the only participants in the ObamaCare exchanges to receive generous subsidies from their employer (the American people) to pay for their health insurance. Nothing would better focus Congress’ attention on changing ObamaCare than being trapped in it just...