Subsidies were greatly expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency measure, but Democrats have fought to keep them permanent. Those subsidies went mostly to Democratic donors.
he 42-day federal shutdown forced by Democrats thrust the economics of Obamacare into the limelight, and exposed an uncomfortable truth: An insurance industry whose executives are increasingly liberal donors has seen its earnings soar with the injection of taxpayer-funded subsidies that propped up Barack Obama’s signature health program from collapse.
The nation’s largest health insurance companies have seen good business since Obamacare was first passed in 2010 and fully implemented in 2014. This has come in no small part because of federal government subsidies to the insurance industry, which government estimates show totaled $1.8 trillion in 2023 alone.
Those subsidies were greatly expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency measure, but Democrats have fought to keep them permanent.
Hopefully, the ongoing negotiations will result on no additional funding and this debacle will die of its’ own weight!
While there is no replacement in sight, the previous system worked well for the people – the competition supported lower prices!
The insurance companies should be removed from all decision-making with regard to the procedures – let the MDs decide based on medical necessity!
This might be a job for AI. Feed it full of billing codes, services and costs and first ask it to untangle the bureaucratic morass then have it reassembled into a workable system based on the principles of capitalism. Regulation, insurer demands, high prices for a service the physician knows will be marginally reimbursed are some of the crazy ways the system is broken.