Democrats say they won’t budge until they get a guarantee on extending subsidies for health plans offered under Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They warned that millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance — such as small business owners, farmers and contractors — will see large increases when premium prices go out in the coming weeks. Looking ahead to a Nov. 1 deadline in most states, they think voters will demand that Republicans enter into serious negotiations.
This is what they’re willing to fight to the death for.
Not indefinite extrajudicial detentions of American citizens. Not targeted legal persecution of political enemies. Not using military resources and drones on fishing boats. Not heavy handed censorship and retaliation on critical speech.
But try to gut the subsidies keeping private insurance solvent and propping up the Ponzi scheme we call a healthcare system, well that’s just a bridge too far.
They can find their spine when something they care about is under threat. They just don’t care about us.
I respect that perspective but I view it as Senate Democrats were lambasted for caving in March so they are trying to not this time. And we see it seems to be working better.
There are few opportunities the Senate minority within their procedures to fight to the death for. Lawmakers in the House have been forcibly shut out from conducting their oversight on detention centres. Senate Dems removed any non-budgetary items from the summer bill. Sen. Booker talked for a day straight to delay proceedings. Their job is to write and change the law but they aren’t in control of the pen. So their ask is not big, and still yet, Republicans are making a huge hullabaloo over it, mostly to their detriment.
The private healthcare system is shit, but it was picked because being healthy is uncontroversially good, and Republicans’ obvious falsehoods about migrants receiving healthcare are not sticking and only further highlight how cruel this administration is.
Our healthcare system is shit, but that doesn’t mean we should gut it and replace it with nothing, which would only make it worse.