Tag Archives: government shutdown

OBAMACARE EQUALS NO HEALTH INSURANCE (unless it’s subsidized)

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My book, “Proud to be American,” is on sale for $16.95 at Amazon and also online from most bookstores.  It’s a 300-page paperback book with 68 articles in nine categories and with 70 pictures. The book analyzes national, international, and domestic problems and critiques the far-left of the Democrat Party and the Propaganda Media.  #   #   #   #

The Federal Government shutdown was basically about the Democrat Congress insisting that the Republican Congress budget $1.4 trillion to continue the extra subsidies to Obamacare that were provided during the Covid epidemic (and Trump and the Republican Congress refusing to do so but it is very expensive pitiful insurance and the epidemic has been over).  Because it’s controversial, you really need to know something about it.

As of November 2025 Obamacare remains in effect.  As of early 2025, approximately 45 million Americans were covered by Obamacare-supported medical insurance coverage. Without subsidies, Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unaffordable for most people.  Because it is so bad, many looked to President Trump in his first term to repeal and replace it with something much better and much less expensive.  Because employers were not required to provide heath insurance for part-time workers, for some time after the passage of Obamacare, most new jobs employers created  in the U.S. under Obamacare were part-time.

I’ve been a supporter of universal healthcare since the year 2000 and, although I did not vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, I was hopeful that he would make good-healthcare-for-all a reality.  It did not cross my mind that Obama would promulgate legislation that would destroy healthcare for many more Americans than it might help.  It also did not occur to me that healthcare premiums for the unsubsidized would double, triple, or even quadruple because of Obamacare…and that deductibles would be as expensive as four to twelve thousand dollars/year and co-pays double for the unsubsidized what they had been pre-Obamacare…and that all of these consequences combined would have the cumulative effect of destroying healthcare for tens of millions Americans.

Let’s give the creators of Obamacare the benefit of the doubt and assume that their hearts were in the right place, and that the passage of the ACA was not simply an attempt of government takeover of 1/6 of the U.S. economy (with healthcare).  The Affordable Care Act demonstrated that it was not affordable and was pitiful health insurance…it was poorly and incompetently designed and executed.  It reminds me of  the homily that “an elephant is a mouse designed by committee,” but in the case of the ACA, it was designed by one political party in Congress.

But wasn’t Obamacare  designed to be like Romney-care, which was passed by Mitt Romney when he was a Republican governor of Massachusetts?  That’s what politicians said to justify Obamacare, but that’s not true.  Romney-care only affected about  8% of the Massachusetts population.  Obamacare affected everyone except those exempted by the President. Romney-care did not have penalties or mandates that Obamacare did until it was repealed by President Trump in his tax-rate-cuts law during his first term. The very few good aspects of Obamacare, pre-existing conditions and coverage by parents’ insurance until age 26, could  have been simply added in new health insurance Federal legislation.

Although Obamacare  is clearly very bad and expensive health insurance, except for those receiving significant subsidies or exemptions, the U.S. may be stuck with it. The reason is totally political.  One sixth of the economy is healthcare.  The ACA or “Obamacare” is a politician’s dream come true but the average American’s nightmare.  With thousands of dollars required for deductibles before reimbursement by insurance companies kicks in, Obamacare for most ends up basically being only catastrophic health-care insurance, which is important and necessary, but not something one should pay a lot of money for.

An opportunity for Obamacare to be either repealed and replaced came with the 2016 Presidential election.  Only if Republicans controlled the Presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives could Obamacare be replaced with healthcare that was affordable without massive Federal subsidies.  Legislation failed in 2017 because of Senator John McCain, who promised to vote for a Bill in the Senate to overturn it and then, last minute without informing anyone in advance, did not vote to overturn it.

It’s time for President Trump and both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress to jointly create an inexpensive but great health care insurance system that doesn’t require massive government subsidies. America deserves no less!

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GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FACTS

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My book, “Proud to be American,” is on sale at Amazon and also can be ordered at most bookstores for $16.95.  It’s a 300-page paperback book with 68 articles organized into nine categories and with 70 pictures.  The book analyzes national, international and domestic problems and also critiques Main-Stream media and the far-left of the Democrat party.                              #           #           #            #

The Federal budget for this fiscal year (FY 2025) expires on October 1.  Since the new budget for the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1, won’t be ready by then, a Continuing Resolution (“CR”) is needed to continue funding the government until a new budget is ready. To date, a “clean” CR has been passed by the House of Representatives to fund the government for seven weeks at the same level that it was funded for the previous fiscal year.  The passage by the House only required 50% of the Congressmen and Congresswomen. The House CR was characterized as “clean” because it did not contain any extraneous provisions.  The Senate version of the CR requires approval by 60 Senators. There are only 53 Republican Senators (but only 52 voted for it) and Democratic Senators are asking for $1.5 trillion in new spending as their price for approving the CR and keeping the Federal government open.  This new spending is mostly to provide for medical care for illegal immigrants.  It is important to this issue to know that anyone, including illegal immigrants, receives free medical care (if they can’t afford to pay) in the Emergency Rooms in U.S. hospitals (so no one in America is left without medical care).

President Trump is hanging tough and has said he will not spend the $1.5 trillion that Senate Minority leader, Chuck Shumer, is demanding to approve the CR. What happens if the Federal government is shut down beginning on October 1? Here’s a list of the most important things that will happen come October 1 without a CR:

  1. Federal government employees, including the military, do not get paid for the time that the Federal government is shut down but Congress usually pays them for all of their shutdown time off soon after the government opens back up.
  2. During shutdowns, those employees deemed “essential” (about 2/3 of employees) are asked to continue to work without pay (though they eventually usually do get paid once the government re-opens).
  3. Social Security checks continue to be mailed out uninterrupted.
  4. The U.S. Post Office continues to deliver mail.
  5. Medicare and Medicaid payments continue.

Government shutdowns create needless pain.  Currently, the Trump Administration is being held hostage because of the shutdown threat. There are proposals, as well as proposed legislation, to eliminate them.  Let’s hope that happens, but don’t hold your breath. As a former Federal employee, I recall with nostalgia my wonderful fully-paid-for  three-week government shutdown vacation in the mid-nineties. 

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