Posts Made By: James Lacey

Originally Posted by James Brown

To a much lesser extent James, me and many other Americans are in the same boat.  (Price, not medical situation)  I know this is thin soup when the stakes are so high, but do you think the government/Trump/and the insurers will figure something out before or early in 2026?  TACO could be on our side this time.  In any case, if enough Americans pay double premiums in 2026 the midterms won't be a wave, they will be a bloodbath.   So maybe a serious consideration of these issues in 2027 at the latest?

I get it that I am prone to Pollyannaism, but this is a big enough deal that the government and insurance industries collective hands could actually be forced.

I agree with you, and I'm actually a bit hopeful too that Republicans figure out they have to do something, and that a TACO will prevail. If it happens in 2027, it will be too late for me, as I only need an ACA policy for 4 months in 2027. I have far more concern for all the other people out there who are facing far worse dilemmas. For example, one of our good friends' daughters is deaf and mentally disabled. Her premium went from several hundred dollars a month to $2,700! She's 53, can't work, and has to get insurance through the ACA. Her husband makes a good six-figure living, but is self-employed, and they can't afford that. There have to be lots and lots of other people who are in the same boat. I can't believe that the Republicans thought cancelling ACA subsidies was a good idea. Are they truly so desperate to destroy Obamacare that they don't care who they harm?

A lot of people don't seem to understand that employer-sponsored insurance is subsidized. The only reason you can afford it is that your employer is paying a large part of the premium for you. The reason is that the employer gets a tax benefit from paying it for you, and if they have over 50 employees, they have to offer it. It's also become such standard practice that employers have to provide it to stay competitive in the job market. The point is that any health insurance that is affordable in the US is subsidized in some way; it doesn't matter if it's employer-sponsored, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, VA, TriCare, or state, local, or federal government-sponsored. Right now, about the only health care insurance in the country that is not subsidized in some way for people making over 400% of the federal poverty level (about $80,000 for a two-person household) is ACA.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Well, James,  there is a partial explanation: the continuous propaganda efforts on the part of Faux that deletes the word "illegal" from the Democrats calling on the military to to resist "illegal" orders, i.e. to obey the law,and simply calling out Democrats on behalf of Trump by reporting what he is concerned with is just the president reacting to the messaging to the military from the Democrats to fail to adhere to the orders of their commander-in-chief! What could be more unpatriotic than that! And they do it with righteous indignation!

Yes, the right-wing propaganda machine bears some of the blame as well.

Originally Posted by Pete Brayton

I like the irony of the Insurrectionist accusing others of sedition. You can't make this stuff up.

Every accusation is a confession, as they say.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

"Costco filed a lawsuit asking for a full refund of tariffs the warehouse club giant has paid since President Donald Trump imposed “reciprocal” and “fentanyl” tariffs earlier this year."

"Costco’s suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade notes that it might not be able to get the refunds later, even if the Supreme Court upholds lower court rulings that the tariffs are illegal."

“The core Congressional power to impose taxes such as tariffs is vested exclusively in the legislative branch by the Constitution,” the Federal Circuit said in its ruling." “Tariffs are a core Congressional power.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/01/costco-sues-trump-tariffs-trade-supreme-court.html

Let's all file a class-action lawsuit against Trump and his administration. He's cost us all so much money, and for no good reason. He's like an arsonist who starts the fire, then puts it out, then takes credit for saving the day, all the while completely oblivious to his role in the disaster.

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

You can't make this stuff up. I haven't ragged on Sleep Donny lately, but yesterday was over the top. I'd describe it all but the guy who Trump wants fired says it all with some humor.  

I'm off on my next world travels heading today to southern California to visit my lady friend for the rest of the week then were going on a Mexican Riviera 11 day cruise the following week. 

Cheers everyone.  

His cabinet meetings are bonkers. I saw some reporting from an AP reporter who was in the room at the time, and the amount of backslapping and obsequious praise the cabinet members have to pour out on Trump to feed his ego is nauseating.

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

He can’t even stay awake for it. Pretty rude. 😃

Maybe he should get some sleep instead of late-night drunk posting on Truth Social?

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

There isn't any:    https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5632583-republicans-divided-aca-subsidies/

There are, however, "concepts of a plan" so let us consider what those gems entail:   

1. Fund your own "health savings account"--hmm, that one's been around for awhile,  how's that one working for you?

2. Combine with others for collective bargaining with insurance companies to lower their rates--any of you good at negotiations? 

3. Alternately sign up for routine exams, if offered, at your local Costco or Walmart!

4. Decry the affordable care act for the whole problem and blame it all on Biden!

Looks like they're gonna go for option 4...

Meanwhile the red states are gonna take it on the chin with the loss of the ACA subsidies while the blue states, in comparison, are not! (Guess they better line up at Walmart!)

"Red states would likely lose the most under expiring ACA subsidies, due to a larger share of enrollees living in Republican-held congressional districts and states that have not expanded Medicaid. Analysts suggest that ending the enhanced subsidies would disproportionately harm red states, particularly in the South, because a significant number of their residents rely on these plans and would face the largest premium increases, as well as potential job losses in sectors that depend on ACA plans."

"Of the 10 states with the highest share of the population receiving Obamacare subsidies, eight are in the South and voted for President Donald Trump last year. They include Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. The other two states in the top 10, Utah and Wyoming, are also Republican states."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/gop-states-suffer-biggest-blows-225523374.html

The vote to extend ACA subsidies for three years, which Schumer says will take place in the Senate before the year's end, will fail. It's a political stunt to pin more blame for the problem on Republicans. We all know there is no way the GOP will agree to a three-year extension. So, our politicians will continue to dither and attack each other politically, and absolutely nothing will get done about the problem. The cynic in me believes that Democrats will gladly let the current situation continue to ensure that it's a significant issue come the midterm elections.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

While it's true that a three year extension would likely fail in a vote, a more likely compromise of a lesser term extension could conceivably pass. That said, here's what the so-called "centrist" Republican congressmen are saying and it lays responsibility for the impasse on their fellow republicans:

"Frustration is mounting among moderate House Republicans as various competing health care plans appear to be going nowhere, with less than 10 working days left on the calendar before millions of Americans see their health insurance premiums spike."  

"A small but animated group of GOP centrists is imploring party leaders to extend the ObamaCare tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. But they’ve run into a wall of opposition from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who’s cold to the idea, and a larger group of conference conservatives, who are openly fighting to have the subsidies end."

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5634256-gop-health-care-plans-frustration/

The fact is James, the GOP has tried repeatedly to end the ACA, and they'll burn the house down to do it. So, as far as assigning responsibility for it, blame the GOP...

Yes, no doubt the skyrocketing premiums are all the fault of the GOP. The Senate vote is designed to fail, though, and as I said, the cynic in me wonders if, even if a compromise were possible, the Democrats would rather have the political whipping post for the midterms.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

"The Roberts court is a shill of the MAGA/Project 2025/GOP."


How true, and take another recent example wherein the cons, without much of any "deliberation" other than a few hours over a holiday, decided that the redistricting plan for Texas was kosher. They totally ignored the hours and days worth of analysis of the appeals court that had decided the plan cleary amounted to racial gerrymandering which it obviously does and even ignored an internal justice department document that concluded the same thing. But according to Sammy Alito, it's obviously ONLY partisan gerrymandering and there's nothing to see here...

We have to be one of the most flawed "democracies" in the world at this point.

Originally Posted by James Brown

Flawed?   Of  course.   Great too, and an honor to be a citizen.  

Do you think the Gerrymandering in Texas was illegally racially motivated?

You’ll recall that Texas was forced to redistrict by Court order.   I reckon the parties that brought the original suit regret that now.

It wasn't necessarily racially motivated, but the three-judge federal panel that heard the case certainly thought that it illegally diluted minority voting power. Only one of the judges dissented (a Reagan appointee), and the other two joined the majority: a Trump appointee and an Obama appointee. As far as I know, the unusual mid-decade redistricting we are discussing was initially done entirely at Trump's behest to gain a partisan advantage in the 2026 midterms. I'm not sure what you mean by "it was court-ordered." I believe the Republican lawyers who defended the redistricting in court even argued it wasn't illegal, since it was done entirely for partisan benefit. However, that doesn't mean that the redistricting didn't disenfranchise minorities. I see similar actions in blue states, such as CA, resulting from partisan actions in Texas and other red states. In contrast, Texas's actions were clearly undertaken only because Republicans are in deep trouble in the midterms. Surely this diffence in motivation between red and blue states is meaningful.