fox host Laura Ingraham Ask the Speaker of the House directly Mike Johnson How will he “avoid being blamed for rising health care costs.”
in a fragment ingraham point On Friday, Johnson discussed the newly unveiled Republican health care plan, which aims to address concerns about rising costs after Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year.
Health care a central issue in recent government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) Commit to a vote on the ACA subsidy extension proposal as part of a deal with Democrats to reopen the federal government. Since then, multiple coalitions in the House and Senate have introduced competing health care plans that have so far failed to pass.
Johnson’s proposal would allow for a separate vote on subsidies, although the plan itself does not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act.
“How close are Republicans to reaching some kind of agreement on this ‘fix’?” Ingraham asked.
“We’re very close and we’re excited to bring this package forward and pass it in the House next week,” Johnson said.
Despite Johnson’s assurances that Republicans are close to a deal, it remains unclear whether the Republican plan will pass the House. Several prominent Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about the party’s stance on health care, fearing it would hurt their chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
Ingraham appeared to allude to these concerns and asked pointedly how Johnson could avoid a public backlash.
INGRAHAM: How do you avoid getting blamed for that? The same thing happened with the October shutdown. We all know their commitment to Obamacare. It’s all lies. I was fighting it on the radio for three hours every morning, noon and night. So they were lying then and we knew they were lying because the numbers didn’t add up. But now the left is blaming you and the Republicans. It’s your fault.
Johnson: Yes, absolutely. This is completely fictional. Of course, the mainstream media will parrot these talking points. Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party. But the way we beat this is with simple truths and facts. Laura, the Government Accountability Office just released a new report last week. This is shocking. For example, in the last two years, they’ve submitted twenty-four – two dozen – completely fraudulent applications for these Unaffordable Care Act subsidies, okay? Twenty-three of twenty-four were approved. No social security number, no proof of income, not even citizenship, okay? Of course not, right? Is it okay to pay insurance companies tens of thousands of dollars each for people who don’t exist? Dead people. Ninety-four million dollars in taxpayer funds were paid to insurance companies for the deceased. Then you have your Social Security number. In 2024 alone, 68,000 Social Security numbers were used by multiple people. In other words, multiple people are using one number to defraud the system. This is the system the Democrats created. This is who they want us to subsidize. So when we tell the truth, we explain to the American people that the reason their costs are out of control is because they’ve created a broken system. We have a solution to solve this problem. I think that’s the message and the truth that you’re delivering as we go into an election year.
Even as health insurers acknowledge fraud in ACA subsidy programs, insurers and state officials are urging Republican lawmakers to extend subsidies in addition to fixing existing problems with the system.
Sabrina ColletteResearch professors at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reform summed up their argument succinctly.
“If you have a problem with car thieves in your community, the policy solution is not to increase the price residents pay for their cars,” she said.
president Donald Trump was asked about rising health care costs in the Oval Office on Friday.
“Well, don’t make it sound that bad,” Trump said in response to reporters, “because obviously, you’re a sycophant of the Democratic Party. You’re obviously the one who brings bad news to the Republican Party.” He went on to call Obamacare “terrible health insurance,” accusing Democrats of being “totally controlled by insurance companies.”
“I want to see billions of dollars go to people, not insurance companies,” the president continued. “I want to see people go out and buy quality health care for themselves. Better health care at a fraction of the cost.”
Laura Ingraham asks Mike Johnson point-blank, “How do you avoid getting blamed for rising health care costs?” First appeared on Mediaite.