Senator Ron Johnson hammered home a straightforward point: Democrats created the Affordable Care Act without Republican support and now refuse to accept responsibility for its consequences. He used testimony and real stories to show how the law and recent Democratic choices on subsidies and expirations have left people worse off. This piece lays out his critique, the evidence he presented, and the heated exchange with Senator Dick Blumenthal.
Democrats pushed the Affordable Care Act through on their own, and Johnson argues that’s where accountability begins. He pointed out that recent votes to extend COVID-related Obamacare premium subsidies and to include a sunset provision were Democratic decisions that now complicate coverage and costs. From his view, those moves set the stage for the problems people are experiencing today.
Rather than admit those consequences, Johnson says Democrats are deflecting blame onto Republicans. He has repeatedly pressed Senator Dick Blumenthal on the damage he sees in the system, demanding that Democrats recognize the real-world outcomes of their policy choices. The contrast between political talking points and people’s stories is central to Johnson’s message.
The entire post reads:
Huh? What about…
• Disabled children stuck on home healthcare waiting lists, crowded out by able-bodied adults.
• Employees whose companies dropped group coverage, forcing them into unaffordable Obamacare exchanges.
Even the Democrats’ own hearing witness…
• Was forced into the exchanges in 2016 when her employer dropped coverage.
• Paid $12,000/year for a silver plan in 2016.
• Switched to a cheaper bronze plan with a $14,000 deductible.
• Had to take out an $18,000 home equity loan to cover medical bills that the bronze plan didn’t cover. @SenBlumenthal needs to open his eyes and see the real damage Obamacare has done to the American people.
“I don’t know of anyone who has been harmed by Obamacare,” Blumenthal said. Johnson countered with specific examples and testimony to make the opposite case clear and unavoidable. He presented those stories as evidence that the law has real victims.
“There was an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal talking about—written by a father with a 17-year-old severely autistic child. God bless his family; they’re taking care of him at home. They were just hoping for home health care. They were on a 10-year waiting list because you’re being crowded out by those single-age Medicaid expansion beneficiaries,” Johnson said.
Johnson also detailed the case of Ms. Verstegen to underline how coverage changes can devastate a household budget. “In 2019, she was paying $1,000 a month,” Johnson began. “She couldn’t afford it, so she had to go to an Obamacare policy that she could afford at 250 bucks per month with the $14,000 deductible. And she and her husband took out an $18,000 home equity line of credit.”
Johnson then addressed Ms. Verstegen directly: “Again, I feel sorry for you. You are a victim of Obamacare. There lot of victims of Obamacare. Okay?” He used that line to emphasize his point that policy outcomes have victims who deserve notice and remedies. Johnson framed the debate as a choice between honest reform and throwing money at a broken system.
He pressed the larger argument in plain terms: “But until we get people on the other side of the aisle who are willing to admit what a miserable failure Obamacare is, and structural reforms need to be made — again, I’m not gonna sign up with throwing hundreds of billions of dollars more to just paint over the rusty structure.” That sums up his resistance to short-term fixes that leave the underlying issues untouched.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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