Deconstructing a Sinking Ship 

Q: Why did the US government shut down?

Democrats are demanding that the government continue sending massive checks to insurance companies, forever, even shutting down the government to demand it. They want tax dollars to shore up the sinking ship, Obamacare.

The simple fact is that Americans were gullible, thinking that Obamacare would deliver on its promise of healthcare affordability and reliability.

Q: Remember when Obama promised, “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.”? 

Republican Rick Scott,  former chairman and CEO of Columbia/HCA (a hospital company), answers questions in the WSJ about ObamaCare. He shines light on why and how Obamacare has proved to be a lie.

(Obama’s) promise to bring down healthcare costs—with savings of $2,500 a year for every American family and $200 billion for the federal government—was no more truthful.

Q: Before 2013, how did the government keep healthcare affordable? 

The government propped it up with hundreds of billions of dollars of handouts directly to the insurance industry.

Q:: Did that move lower costs?

No, these handouts lacked any accountability or eligibility requirements, opening them up to fraud, waste and mass confusion that lined the pockets of insurance companies and brokers, and failing Americans who need help.

The whole system is misconceived—but Washington has done its best to hide that from the American people.

To fix America’s healthcare system, continues Mr. Scott, we need to start at the beginning, 

The Failures of ObamaCare

Average monthly premiums per person skyrocketed from $242 in 2013, the year before ObamaCare was enacted, to nearly $600 in 2019—an increase in costs of about 140% in six years.

In the past five years, costs have continued to rise, with 2026 premiums expected to jump 15% over 2025.

The federal government has continuously increased subsidies to insurance companies to hide ObamaCare’s affordability failures and spare Americans on ObamaCare from its skyrocketing costs.

Everyone’s premiums, copayments, and deductibles have soared, continues Sen. Scott.

The share of ObamaCare premium costs paid for by the federal government since 2014 has risen from 68.4% to 80.3%.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

In 2023 and 2024 alone, the federal government paid more than $200 billion to insurers to keep premium increases artificially low. This is an unsustainable system that feeds billions of taxpayer dollars to insurance companies. The federal government spent $111.2 billion on ObamaCare subsidies last year, sending checks to insurance companies for 19 million recipients. Reports indicate five million of those recipients were ineligible. That means the average American paid $327 of tax dollars last year on these subsidies, of which some $82 covered fraudulent enrollment.

Q: Sen. Scott, How to Stop the Madness? 

• Lower the cost of healthcare,
• Encourage innovation at the state level
• Stop fraud and waste in the system
• Increase competition in the health insurance and provider markets
• Give Americans the ability to spend healthcare dollars in the way that best meets their individual needs.

Q: Won’t this kick people off their insurance or subject them to higher costs?

Democrats prefer to keep funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to insurance companies. Americans get less choice, smaller provider networks, poorer outcomes, higher insurance premiums, higher copayments and higher deductibles.

Q: Who Are Democrats Protecting?

Well, certainly not taxpayers or patients who rely on ObamaCare.