Here’s How Republicans Should Fix Health Care Rather Than Bailing Out Obamacare

Sometimes a few words can mean a lot. Take the debate surrounding an extension of health insurance subsidies — one of the reasons why Democrats have shut down the federal government. Here’s what retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said about the issue in June: “[W]ith the ACA subsidies and other things, we should start thinking about a stream of bipartisan bills that we can work on.”

Tillis’ terminology has two problems — one of politics, one of substance. On the politics, Jimmy Kimmel (of all people) repeatedly showed how voters view “Obamacare” one way and the “Affordable Care Act” another. That Tillis used the latter term rather than the former, thereby embracing Democrats’ political framing, might have something to do with his departure from the Senate next year.

More importantly, Tillis’ phraseology brings up a bigger question: If the law is so “affordable,” why are Democrats demanding Congress pass a bailout costing $350 billion plus interest and shutting down the federal government until it does so?

To state what should be obvious but isn’t to most members of Congress, an Obamacare bailout wouldn’t make anything more “affordable.” It would merely steal money from most Americans — because that’s what taxation is: legalized theft — to give to the roughly 6 percent of the population with subsidized Exchange policies.