President Trump has thrown down the gauntlet on Capitol Hill, calling for an end to the government shutdown and a dramatic reimagining of America’s healthcare system. His message to Congress was clear: stop funneling taxpayer money to insurance giants and give it directly to the American people.
As the shutdown entered its 38th day—already the longest in U.S. history—Trump took to Truth Social with a populist declaration that turned Washington’s traditional healthcare debate on its head.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” the President wrote.
This proposal, characteristically bold, reframes the fight over Obamacare subsidies not as a question of government funding but of economic justice. Trump’s plan would essentially end the existing system of federal payments to insurers—funds that critics say prop up an uncompetitive, bloated, and inefficient healthcare bureaucracy—and instead place that money into the hands of ordinary Americans.
“In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people,” Trump continued, adding that Obamacare represents “the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World.”
The statement came as Senate negotiations dragged into an extraordinary Saturday session after yet another proposed deal collapsed. Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, refused to vote for a House-passed bill that would reopen parts of the government unless it included new protections for Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expand at the start of the new year.
That would make no sense. The point of insurance is to spread risk. The amounts that would be given to people couldn’t pay for any serious medical bills. It works only if we all pay and then the few of us that get wacked at any given time are insured and the bills can be paid.