Posted on 11/09/2025 8:32:30 AM PST by DFG
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, walked off the Senate floor when being questioned about reopening the federal government during the longest shutdown in history.
Schumer admitted to Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-OH, that he didn’t have a written proposal to fix the Affordable Care Act.
“We can’t give you a counter in writing, but it’s very simple," Schumer said. "Because we have two sentences we would add to any proposal which would extend the ACA benefits for one year. Moreno exposed that the Affordable Care Act imposed no income caps, meaning people who make millions of dollars a year can obtain taxpayer-subsidized health care. “It does still have no income caps, so people who make $1, $2, $3 million a year,” Moreno said before Schumer interrupted him.
“Once we pass the one-year fixed so people right now aren’t in difficulty, we would sit and negotiate that,” Schumer said. “The leader has said that he won’t negotiate before. We’re willing to negotiate once the credits are extended, plain and simple.”
Moreno responded: “So for one year, people making millions of dollars would still receive these COVID-era subsidies?”
Then, Schumer accused Moreno of caring about billionaires, yielded the floor and walked away.
Moreno continued: “I was going to ask him before he stormed out of the room because evidently he doesn‘t want to hear any opposing views or actually engage in meaningful negotiation … Would he continue 0 dollar premiums, which we know for a FACT, have enormous levels of fraud."
"If he had stayed, I would have asked him a third question: Does he want these monies to go directly to insurance companies?”
A Daily Wire reporter covered the exchange.
On the 38th day of the federal shutdown, Congress is still fighting over funding priorities. Meanwhile, airports run by traffic controllers who aren’t being paid.
Democrat lawmakers in the Senate have voted against reopening the government 14 times. Schumer has demanded extending taxpayer subsidies through the Affordable Care Act.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD, said the only path to reopening the government is to pass a clean funding bill.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump urged Senate Republicans to give health care funds directly to consumers instead of health care companies.
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“Once we pass the one-year fixed so people right now aren’t in difficulty, we would sit and negotiate that,” Schumer said. “The leader has said that he won’t negotiate before. We’re willing to negotiate once the credits are extended, plain and simple.”
Moreno responded: “So for one year, people making millions of dollars would still receive these COVID-era subsidies?”
You had to pass the bill to see what is in it.
Get rid of the Affordable Care Act things will improve insurance companies are making billions off of it.
Obozocare is a giant ponzi scheme
There’s nothing affordable about it
The Rats don’t want to give up their slush fund
AI : As of 2024, over 21.4 million Americans selected or were automatically re-enrolled in health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace for 2024.
This includes 5.2 million first-time enrollees.
Additionally, when combining Marketplace coverage with Medicaid expansion, more than 45 million people were enrolled in ACA-related health coverage
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Vast majority of Americans get their coverage through employer. Then the 65+ crowd through Medicare.
Medicaid is not actually part of ACA. That is for the very poor. It is 21 million people with no employer, above the Medicaid income threshold, that are on ACA, and they will continue to have subsidies 1 Jan. Only the increase from the Covid years expire.
It’s a hyped issue for < 5-6% of the population
“obtain taxpayer-subsidized health care”
The typical risk is generally less than half the premium. Most of the premium goes to care for a small percentage.
The out-of-pocket maximum should be household income dependent and not a fixed number, perhaps a percentage (30%) of previous 12 months’ income (or the federal disability amount if it could be higher) above maximum SNAP amount for household size plus $500 per household member plus housing, electric and natural gas costs.
You’d have to apply to the insurer to get the benefit of the out-of-pocket maximum.
Vaduz wrote: “Get rid of the Affordable Care Act things will improve insurance companies are making billions off of it.”
Even Hillary stated that in order to pass health care reform, the insurance companies had to be paid off.
Sounds more like you have to pass the bill to get your arm twisted.
What a deal, Chuck! Just retire, already. AOC can fill your shoes - with her mouth!
[The enhanced subsidies are way too generous.]
PARTIAL ENHANCED SUBSIDY CONTINUATION [to 2036]
Except as required by the Fair Share PPACA premium minimums below, the monthly premium to be paid on a plan shall not exceed the Schumer formula amount in terms of dollars by more than 1.5 times the household’s income in percentage terms of FPL that exceeds 90% FPL.
[If the household’s income is 400% of FPL, the percentage difference is 310% and increase would typically be capped at $465/month.]
[If the household’s income is 300% of FPL, the percentage difference is 210% and increase would typically be capped at $315/month.]
FAIR SHARE PPACA PREMIUM MINIMUMS
There shall be premium minimums of the higher of:
1. 1/65th of the Medicare Part B premium amount per insured year of age as of the start of coverage
2. one-tenth the percentage of the policy premium of the household income as a percentage of FPL.
[For a 5-year-old, 7-year-old, 32-year-old and 34-year-old, the ages would sum to 88 and the monthly absolute minimum premium amount would be a (88/65)*$185 or $250.46.]
[For a 5-year-old kid and a 27-year-old mom the ages would sum to 32 and the monthly absolute minimum premium amount would be (32/65)*$185 or $91.07.]
[For the second minimum, a family whose income is 300% of FPL would have to pay at least 30% (one-tenth of 300%) of the cost of the policy.]
[About half the premium is to subsidize unhealthy people. Paying 30% is covering well over 60% of true risks of most insureds.]
Insurers may partially waive the minimums for up to 20% of their issued PPACA policies down to no less than $10/month after the first month’s premium is paid provided $20 is paid upfront for a financial review fee. Insurers need not waive for the entire remaining term.
The reason he’s saying that is the bet that either the Senate, the House, or both will change hands next year and they will force Trump to accept their terms. Trump has the upper hand right now and this is the hill to die on.
First sentence: Limit the shock.
Second sentence: Make sure most insureds pay close to a reasonable share.
Third sentence: Allow exceptions for those with unusually high living expenses.
Having most 250% to 350% of FPL households pay premiums twice to three times as much as they should might well be the hill the Republican Party and the USA die on.
For health care, bring on market force:
1. Break most hospitals into two highly competitive entities
2. Convert other hospitals into real estate leasing entities with competing surgical suites and nursing wings
3. Separate out drug coverage so hospital systems can run care coverage systems and cut out insurance company overhead and meddlers.
4. Create interstate drug plans that don’t have to cover every drug. To qualify for exchange listing and federal subsidies, they would have to most (~80% or more) in all important types (large volume recombinant, small volume recombinant, breakthroughs under patent, etc.). Group and exchange plans to offer vouchers at plan set amounts for out-of-formulary drugs.
5. These drug plans would be all the formulary drugs the doctors (and AI) prescribe with co-pays equal to manufacturing cost
6. Have drug patents limited by government sourced product revenue and overall domestic government health care spending and not by time [so drug companies have an incentive to minimize government health care funding]
7. Require Kirchoff patent collapse to a single entity upon FDA marketing approval of a covered entity
8. reform medical education, breaking down medicine and dentistry into simpler chunks and start it in the first year of college
9. replace most primary doctoring with AI
(human doctor would confirm AI diagnosis, prescribe radiation imaging/treatment, and voucher/government co-pay drugs)
Having most 250% to 350% of FPL PPACA households pay premiums twice to three times as much as they should might well be the hill the Republican Party and the USA die on.
10. Allow catastrophic health care plans again
““Once we pass the one-year fixed so people right now aren’t in difficulty, we would sit and negotiate that,” Schumer said. “The leader has said that he won’t negotiate before. We’re willing to negotiate once the credits are extended, plain and simple.””
Open the government and you have until next November to find a way to fix the issue.
It’s all about connections and kickbacks so much for looking out for the little guy as they always claim.
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