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GOP shuts down government because they want Americans to suffer




The federal government has officially shut down, after the GOP-controlled
Congress failed to pass a funding bill by midnight.

And it's all because Republicans are refusing to negotiate with Democrats on
extending Medicaid subsidies to keep millions of Americans from being kicked
off their health care.

Expanded Medicaid subsidies Democrats passed back in 2021 will expire at the
end of the year if Congress doesn't act.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that will lead 4 million
people to automatically lose their insurance coverage.

But more than that, it will make premiums skyrocket for those remaining on
Affordable Care Act marketplaces, as the people who would lose coverage are on
average younger and healthier. That leaves an older pool of individuals who are
costlier to cover, which will lead insurers to raise premiums for everyone.




 



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In fact, a Kaiser Family Foundation study estimates that premiums would more
than double if subsidies weren't extended.

According to the KFF:

With the enhanced tax credits in place, an individual making $28,000 will pay
no more than around 1% ($325) of their annual income towards a benchmark plan.
If the enhanced tax credits expire, this same individual would pay nearly 6% of
their income ($1,562 annually) towards a benchmark plan in 2026. In other
words, if the enhanced tax credits expire, this individual would experience an
increase of $1,238 in their annual premium payments net of the tax credit.



Rather than negotiate with Democrats to prevent millions of Americans from
experiencing yet more cost increases, Republicans have chosen to straight-up
lie about what Democrats are asking for.

Republicans are falsely claiming that Democrats want $1 trillion to give
health care to undocumented immigrants. It's absolutely false, as undocumented
immigrants do not and cannot receive Medicaid subsidies. But Republicans are
hoping the scary language will turn public sentiment in their favor.

“Facts are stubborn: people in the US illegally have never been eligible for
Medicare, Medicaid or ACA credits. Democrats are fighting to restore health
funding for the American people so out-of-pocket costs don’t soar. Republicans
have no argument so all they can do is lie,” Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) wrote
in a post on X.





 



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ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos challenged House Speaker Mike Johnson on his
lies in an interview on Wednesday morning.

“The Democratic proposal is designed to prevent millions of Americans from
losing their health insurance, losing Medicaid coverage, or paying higher
health care premiums. Why are you against that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

To which Johnson replied, “That's an absurd statement,” apparently hoping
that the media would just accept his lies that Democrats are seeking health
care for undocumented immigrants rather than health care for millions of
low-income Americans who will lose access to insurance or see their premiums
spike if Republicans don’t act.

“It's a factual statement,” Stephanopoulos replied back.



Trump, meanwhile, is going even further with the baseless lies, saying that
Democrats are also seeking funding for transgender surgeries—a comment so
absurd it boggles the mind that anyone would accept it as fact.

Trump is also making insane threats, saying that he will use the shutdown to
punish Democrats and take away more benefits from the poorest among us.

Polls show, however, that Americans will blame Trump and Republicans more
than Democrats for this current shutdown. And it’s unclear how punishing
Americans further will skew public opinion in the GOP’s favor.

Democrats are making that point as they gear up for a fight.



“They are underwater across the board, and they know it,” Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday night. “And that is
causing them to double down in public. But it is backfiring. That is
why—whether it’s a shutdown, whether it’s all of this—they want us to blink
first. And we have too much to save. Protecting people is too important a task
for us to give up before anything even starts.”



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