Trump is considering making eligibility for continuing Obamacare subsidies up to 700 percent of the federal poverty level.
We just lived through the longest, dumbest, and most pointless government shutdown in U.S. history. If you’re on the right side of the aisle, the only silver lining is that Democrats were convinced they were winning, then believe eight senators surrendered out of a lack of nerve, and are now even more apoplectically furious at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer than they were before. We could almost hope that the Democrats’ shutdown strategy blew up in their faces so spectacularly, they would be disinclined to try to run the same maneuver again anytime soon.
And now, along comes President Trump to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, by reportedly contemplating giving Democrats a significant chunk of what they wanted in the first place:
The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
The draft plan suggests that President Donald Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare as his administration and congressional Republicans search for a broader policy solution to a fight that has long flummoxed the party. The White House stresses that no plan is final until Trump announces it. . . .
Eligibility for the Obamacare subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic to help people afford health care coverage, would be capped at 700 percent of the federal poverty level, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal.
If you’re wondering, 700 percent of the federal poverty level for a single person in 2025 is $109,550, and for a family of four, it is $225,050.
Got that? A Republican president may well negotiate to keep tax credits in place for families of four with a household income of more than $225,000 per year.
For what it’s worth, the Wall Street Journal reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson has “cautioned the White House that most House Republicans don’t have an appetite for extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.”
Come on. Come on! If that’s what President Trump wanted to do, he could have agreed to that in late September and we could have avoided the whole shutdown.