Obamacare created the worst of all worlds for many people.
Those who work in corporate jobs get subsidized health care from employers, and while that cuts their salaries, as businesses look at total compensation when hiring employees, not just cash salaries, most people think of salaries and benefits are separate items. Low-income people get very inexpensive health care because of government subsidies, so that is a nice deal.
People who work for themselves or who don't get employer-paid health insurance got reamed. My health care costs went up dramatically after Obamacare kicked in--total outlay about tripled in a couple of years--too "wealthy" to get subsidies, and not poor enough to get subsidies. The pain was enormous.
During COVID, emergency subsidies were provided to many people in the middle, which lowered the burden temporarily, and one of the issues in the shutdown is a move by Democrats to extend those subsidies indefinitely. As with all "temporary" measures, they were always intended to be permanent.
The basic problem is that Obamacare itself is horrifically designed, and I suspect intentionally so. It is breaking the health care system, likely in preparation for a full government takeover of the health care system. Americans now spend more on health care bureaucracy than actual health care--more than 50% of the cost of the system is paperwork--and costs are outrageous. Add to that the fact that people cannot choose plans with fewer mandatory services, and you have a recipe for disaster.
We need to scrap Obamacare, not create more massive subsidies to hide the cost in taxes (or government debt).
Democrats, of course, want to go the latter route, since a direct government takeover is not in the cards any time soon. Until we have President AOC, at least.
But man, they are bad at making the case. At least to people who aren't already in their back pocket.
The couple retired in their early 50s. They don't work but make $136,000 a year off of pension & IRA savings & you want taxpayers to give them $15,000 a year handout? Seriously? This couple is like the poster child for revoking the enhanced tax credits. pic.twitter.com/d40I5aKvfu
— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) October 22, 2025
Amy Klobuchar shares what she considers a sob story of ordinary people who will be harmed by allowing the subsidies to expire, and my first reaction was...WHAT? "Modified AGI," by the way, is what the government taxes after deductions, so they probably bring in over $170,000 or more. You expect me and mine to subsidize people who retire more than a decade early, bringing in a nice cash pension, who spend their time on the beach?
Yes, yes she does.
As working Americans struggle, Klobuchar wants you to know that the people she cares most deeply about are worried that they cannot maintain a lifestyle that 99.9% of Americans would kill to have.
Early retirees such as the Galls face a bigger financial hit than most if Congress doesn’t act.
The average ACA marketplace enrollee faces a 114% increase in premium payments without the enhanced subsidies, according to KFF.
But older middle- to high-income adults who are too young to qualify for Medicare face the largest dollar increases in premium payments, according to analyses by KFF.
They are perhaps “the most vulnerable population” when it comes to expiring subsidies, said Lynne Cotter, senior health policy research manager at KFF.
Such ACA enrollees who opt to keep their insurance plans might pay 30% of their total annual household income toward health premiums alone, Cotter said.
For comparison, the average household with employer-sponsored coverage spent about 2% of its annual income on premiums in 2024, according to an analysis by KFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare. That same year, ACA premiums were capped at 8.5% of a household’s income.
“People like us, we need insurance,” said Bill, a civil engineer who retired in 2022.
If the Gall family’s health insurance premiums jump and their medical expenses remain steady, the tally would likely represent more than a quarter of their annual income.
With significantly higher health premiums, the couple said, they would have to make tough financial and lifestyle decisions: pulling more money from retirement savings; claiming Social Security earlier than planned, which would lock in a lower lifetime benefit; putting off non-mandatory medical care; and traveling less.
“If there are no subsidies, we’ll pay the difference. We’ll be out there paying the $1,700 a month,” Bill said. “You do the math. It’s a lot.”
Sounds awful. Except...They retired early and are living the high life. Some of us work for a living, and they want us to pay for their lifestyle. I couldn't imagine a less sympathetic couple to highlight, although for the Democrats, doing so is pretty smart. The professional class is now their most important constituency—so-called "knowledge workers"—so highlighting how the Democrats are fighting to give them free stuff makes sense in a way.
Dems wrote Obamacare.
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) October 21, 2025
They passed Obamacare without a single GOP vote.
They created the Obamacare COVID credits without a single GOP vote, and they extended those credits AND chose a 2025 expiration date with no GOP votes.
If Dems want to discuss their Obamacare failures, we… https://t.co/pw2WfFMZRo
Dems wrote Obamacare.
They passed Obamacare without a single GOP vote.
They created the Obamacare COVID credits without a single GOP vote, and they extended those credits AND chose a 2025 expiration date with no GOP votes.
If Dems want to discuss their Obamacare failures, we welcome the conversation... after they end the Schumer Shutdown.
Of course, the additional $15k a year is entirely due to rapidly rising health care costs. These subsidies are pretty recent, so if insurance costs are that much higher when they expire, it tells you how broken Obamacare really is. Democrats like it broken, so they can appeal to this demographic.
Bill and Shelly bring in $136,000 a year, and they are the "most vulnerable?" According to Klobuchar, the answer is "yes," because that is who she really represents.
It's the way Democrats think.
A multi millionaire who's too good to wait in line at the airport like the rest of us peasants and is instead flying around on private jets is "fighting oligarchy" and climate change?
— Pro America Politics (@Pro__Trading) May 8, 2025
They and theirs deserve better than what the plebs should endure.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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