Latest / Trumponomics / The Other Insurance Cost Fueling the US Affordability Crisis

Transcript

The Other Insurance Cost Fueling the US Affordability Crisis · Trumponomics

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I can't say affordability hooks because I agree the prices
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: were too high, psychical, a hoax, because they'll misconstrue that,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: but they use the word affordability and that's their only word.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: I'm Stephanie Flanders, head of Government and Economics at Bloomberg,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: and this is Trumponomics, the podcast that looks at the
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: economic world of Donald Trump, how he's already shaped the
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: global economy, and what on earth is going to happen next.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: We've talked about affordability a few times on this podcast,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: especially in the wake of those special elections where it
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: was a major theme and potentially something that was pulling
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: down the Republican vote. We've seen the President responding to
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: the discussion, not always very positively. He's talked about it
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: being a hoax. He's talked about people needing to give
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: him more credit for the strength of the economy. But
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: it does seem like a theme that's going to run
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: and run, and not just because Democrats see it as
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: a potential winner next year. What I wanted to focus
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: on on this show is not just the political aspects,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: but the very real insurance aspect of affordability, which is
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: about to get quite a lot worse. I wanted to
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: focus on how insurance was going to start playing an
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: even bigger role in that affordability issue as we go forward.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: And indeed, on January first, we've seen the Congress be
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: unable to come up with a fix to restore any
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: of the Obamacare subsidies, and that we know is going
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: to have a very big immediate impact on the cost
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: of premiums and potentially on consumer behavior. So I wanted
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: to get into that a bit with our reporter covering
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: health policy in Washington, Rachel Causesang, Thank you very much
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: for joining us. Rachel, thanks for having me. And Brook Sutherland,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: our Boston bureau chief, had given me a whole other
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: thing to worry about in this sphere by writing about
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: US manufacturing. She writes our Industrial Strength newsletter as part
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: of that, and Brooke highlighted to me that car insurance
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: and soaring car insurance premiums were already causing consumer behavior
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to change and potentially impacting the outlook for even US manufacturing.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: So Brook, thanks very much for joining us.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I like to think of this as a really nice
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: kind of micro episode where we remind people that were
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: not always just at sort of thirty thousand feet. Rachel
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: I did mention the Obamacare subsidies. A lot of people
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: listening to this are sitting in the US, they may
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: even benefit from those subsidies. Will know that it's been
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: quite a big debate and a tussle in Congress over
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: the last few weeks. But where do we stand on
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: the subsidies and what's the impact going to be as
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: things stand for many US households.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: So, as you mentioned, this has been an issue that's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: been front of mine for Congress, as it caused the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: longest government shutdown in history earlier this fall. But where
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: we're at is that these subsidies were put into place
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: during the COVID nineteen pandemic to help people pay for
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: insurance and in theory, help more people get access to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: insurance in the middle of a public health emergency. And
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the enrollment in the Obamacare marketplaces has more than doubled
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: since these subsidies went into effect, So it has had
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a really material impact on how many people get insurance
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: through Obamacare. But now Augress kind of set this up
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: as a temporary policy and it's expiring at the end
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: of the year, and there's no sign that Demo Crats
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and Republicans are going to be able to come together
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to make some sort of deal to avert these subsidies expiring.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So they've tried over the past couple of weeks. They've
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: gone back, they've gone forth, there have been bipartisan negotiations,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: there's been partisan votes on the floor, but it doesn't
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: look like they're going to be able to reach an
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: agreement in the next two weeks.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: And in terms of the impact for a lot of
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: ordinary Americans who will have potentially already had or I
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: guess they will definitely already have had notice of the
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: higher premiums they would have to pay. What kind of
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: increases are we talking about and when would they kick in?
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Right, So, we're talking about an average of about one
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year that average, and Obamacare and relies
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: are going to see their premiums increase. But for some people,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: especially like early retirees, people between the ages of fifty
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and sixty four who don't qualify for the Medicare program yet,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: they could see increases of one thousand dollars a month,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: depending on where they live and what's available. Other people
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: will see smaller increases, but I think overall the average
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: number is around one thousand dollars a year. I think
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that's important to realize because these are fixed costs, like
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: they're monthly costs, Like no matter what kind of health
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: care that you use, your monthly costs are going to
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: go up every single month. And it's just going to
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: squeeze people and their monthly budgets, or they could choose
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to become uninsured if they're healthy, and if you were
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: healthy people buy health insurance, then the costs go up
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: for everyone. So it's this vicious cycle that just only
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: continues to increase costs.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: And Brooke, there's a pretty obvious vicious cycle that can
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: also happen if people are not getting enough car insurance.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I mentioned at the start that you'd written about this,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: But what is it that you had spotted about people's
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: response to higher car insurance premiums?
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Sure, and you've really seen insurance premiums skyrocket over the years.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: And there's a couple of reasons for that, but the
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: biggest one is that cars are increasingly complex. They are
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: jam packed with sensors, semiconductors from everything from the bumper
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: to the headlights, and so what used to be more
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: minor fender vendors are now becoming significantly more expensive repair jobs.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: And so what insurers have done in reaction to that
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: is that they're more likely to declare cars totaled. But
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: they also have to reflect those rising repair costs, and
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: so you know, insurance premiums have gone up alongside that.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: In addition, you've also seen, of course, replacement cars rise,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: and so this is all sort of happening in tandem,
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: and back to Rachel's point, just raising sort of your
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: basic fixed costs to get some of these things that
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: in many cases are necessities for people. As much as
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: people might need a car to get from point A
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: to point B, it's a little bit easier to make
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: changes around the edges on your insurance if you're trying
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: to cut back. And so the biggest trends that are
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: happening are people downgrading their insurance and dropping their collision
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: repair coverage or shifting from comprehensive coverage just liability coverage,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: and that alone can be a really big saving and
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: maybe knock off about one thousand dollars from their annual
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: bill or they're opting for or higher deductibles, which will
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: lower their premiums in the short term, but also make
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: it less likely that they file claims when they do
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: get into those fender benders. And it's really just sort of,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: you know, the latest example of consumers cutting back into
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: auto market in particular, or we've seen a lot of
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: strain recently. You've seen people opting for longer term loans
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: that lower monthly bills. A share of some prime borrowers
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: that are at least sixty days past DOE jump to
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: the highest level since nineteen ninety four in October, and
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: so this is really painting an overall picture of strain
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: in that portion of the market.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: You can see that the President has been focused on
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: at least one piece of that, which is the interest
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: rate piece. You know, in the hope that if you've
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: put pressure on the federal reserve, that'll trickle down eventually
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: into lower costs for people who are borrowing in these
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: markets or potentially trying to extend their terms or anything else.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: But it's a pretty blunt edged instrument if the underlying
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: risk of these policies is going up. But just on
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: that brook, if you have people changing their behavior. How
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: does that affect the industry. It clearly affects how I'm
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: going to feel as I'm driving along the road in
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: the States, because i might be worried that I'm going
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: to hit someone or someone's going to hit me is
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: not properly insured. But how does it come through financially
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: for these firms?
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, the first place where you're seeing
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: it is companies like Copart, which is a vehicle salvager.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: And so what that means is, you know, as I
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: was describing, insurers are more likely to declare cars total
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: these days, even if they're in relatively minor accidents, just
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: because the repairs are so costly. And when that happens,
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: the cars are then put on coparts auction platform and
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: then they're resold. And this is you know, a really
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: growing pipeline for this company because these cars tend to
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: not be you know, quite as banged up as you
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: might think of when we talk about a total vehicle,
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: and they can often resell them, particularly in emerging markets.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: They tend to be newer, nicer cars as well that
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: are ending up in this pipeline. But the volume of
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: cars making their way to the auction block is down
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: because people are filing less insurance claims or you know,
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: as if they have a higher deductleble, they may be
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: more likely to sit on, you know, a damage to
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: their car and decide to repair it later or maybe
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: not do it at all. And so that's reducing the
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: flow of cars that are making their way to this
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: vehicle salvager.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: And we might talk in a minute about how that
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: sort of feeds through into the broader manufacturing industry and
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: the car industry. But I mean, Rachel, are we seeing
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: already or is it too early to see changes in
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: behavior in response to the higher premiums that are coming
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: down the track When it comes to health, I.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Think it's a little bit early. I think we'll get
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a better sense of how many people choose to forego
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: insurance entirely when the end of open enrollment ends. So
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: there's you know, a period where people can choose to
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: sign up or not to sign up for their plans.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: So we're not quite through that period, ye. But I
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: think one thing to note that's really important for the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Trump administration is that, unlike maybe car insurance premiums that
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: are more spread out, not nationwide, I think the impact
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of these health insurance policies is going to be concentrated
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: in Republican led states especially. We're looking at Florida, We're
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: looking at Texas, We're looking at Georgia. Some of these
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: states that have less generous Medicaid programs under the Obamacare,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: they've resisted kind of signing up for these policies that
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: help more people get insurance help hospitals. And I think
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that's been the concern of some modern Republicans, and we've
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: seen pushback what they want to have some at least
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: short term extension to get them through the midterm elections.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: So there are constituents in these really politically important states
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: aren't going to see these pricing increases so dramatically, and
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: that's what is a.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Bit confusing for people on the outside of this, and
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: in fact was made the outcome of the shutdown kind
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: of surprising because people thought the Democrats have chosen a
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: good issue for people to hang around the next of
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the Republicans. But equally, if the Republicans got together with
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: the Democrats to fix it, you've neutralized what could potentially
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: be one of the most corrosive politically issues going into
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: the midterms. And yet that didn't happen. In the shutdown,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: we didn't have that kind of agreement, and then even
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: now with these efforts in the Senate, we haven't seen it,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: even though presumably there is quite a lot of blowback
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: coming from individual constituents for these senators in Congress people.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: So why is it that they haven't signed up to
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: any of these bills. That's a good question.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: And from my sources on Capitol Hill, I had talked
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to them over the summer about this issue, because we
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: expected that there was leeway for some deal for them
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: to put some guardrails around these subsidies, to argue that
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: they were cutting down fraud and waste and abuse and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: really targeting these subsidies to the people who needed them most.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: But they just never did it. And what my sources
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: on Capital said they needed was some sort of clear
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and firm cover from the President to support these Obamacare subsidies,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: because there are again some conservative Republicans who are just
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: opposed to Obamacare want it repealed, that holdover from that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen fight that so badly bruised the president, and
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: he didn't provide that cover until it was too late,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and he still hasn't said that he would support a
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: straight extension of these subsidies, so Republicans have kind of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: flailed to try to find some sort of option that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: he'll support that would actually lower cost for consumers, but
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: they weren't able to do it. They just waited until
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it was too late, and I think they ultimately didn't
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: feel that they could get the votes to support a
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: subsidy extension that would be good for a lot of
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: their members going into the midterms.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Is it at a focus about the gerrymandering of districts
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: and how few districts and even Senate seats, although that's
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: not a question of gerrymandering, but how little contest, how
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: much of Congress and the Senate is not contested when
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: we come to any election. And I guess this is
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: one manifestation of it. Is even if there's a lot
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: of pressure and potentially political blowback from an issue in
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: any given time, there's not very many Senators and there's
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: certainly not very many congress people at this point who
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: feel they're really vulnerable and they're not enough to make
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: the difference. It's a slow burn impact on policy. But Brooke,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, it feels like what you're describing, and the
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: knock on effect for other parts of the industry could
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: have real economic consequences over time. If consumers are just
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: changing their behavior, cutting spending, not potentially not buying the
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: same kind of cars, what kind of ripple effects are
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: we likely to see and could they actually over time,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: really have a big impact.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Sure. I think one thing that's important to remember is
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: that the manufacturing sector, you know, at least based on
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: the ISM's gauge of US manufacturing activity, has been contraction
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: for essentially three years, and so there's a lot of
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: focus on when that might change and when the manufacturing
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: sector might see a more sustained rebound. And there was
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: a lot of optimism heading into the beginning of this
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: year that was going to happen in twenty twenty five,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: and then, of course we got instead very sweeping, broad
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: tariffs from the Trump administration that have really caused a
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: pause and a paralysis really in decision making in the
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: manufacturing sector. That's really pushed out that recovery. But even
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: with the optimism, you know that that recovery might finally
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: end up taking place in twenty twenty six. I think
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: the extent of its robustness is really going to hinge
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: on what you see from the consumer. There's been so
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: much talk, particularly in the post pandemic period, about whether
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: you could have a decoupling of the manufacturing economy from
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: the broader economy and from the consumer, and despite a
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: lot of prognostications about that, has not actually happened. And
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: it's very difficult for the manufacturing economy to decouple just
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: considering how much of GDP is driven by that consumer.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: And so when you see that, you know, retrenchment, consumers
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: making trade offs, cutting back on things. You know, we've
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: also gotten some really notable warnings on the housing market,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: and just like the past couple of days from home
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: depot from Carrier Global, which makes air conditioners and heating systems,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: and it all sort of adds up to picture of
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: continued anxiety at least, and I think till you start
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: to see that dissipate, it's going to be harder to
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: see the manufacturing sector really break out and have a
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: more meaningful recovery. Tangential to that, you've seen companies make
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: investments here and there, but even during sort of the
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: building boon days of the Biden era, that really didn't
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: filter down to manufacturing earnings, and we're still not really
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: seeing that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: It's a good point that you can have that sort
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: of a slow burn effect where you don't have the
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: dynamism at that end where even if the big picture
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: is going better, you know, imports are down, some of
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: the things that the President was focused on are actually
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: moving in the right direction, despite the critics of his policies. Actually,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: the dynamics of the sort of micro level for manufacturers,
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: especially if there's these costs going up and up on
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: households and they're having to make tough choices, I think, yeah,
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I could continue to be quite tough. I mean, Rachel,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: I'll give you the last word in the sense of
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: it's next week that on the show, we're going to
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: be thinking ahead to next year. But in this area,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: what's your best bet? Do you think this is something
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: that even though they haven't fixed it now, when people
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: are actually paying these premiums, when you see people fall
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: off their health insurance, when the broader medical sector is
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: really struggling, do you think there will be a solution
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: out of Congress? Or is that it I hate different protection.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I seem to think that it's I think that's going
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: to be it like once they've had months and months
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to make a deal on this, that they couldn't do it,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and they've Republicans have also pursued policies and Medicaid, like
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the health insurance program for low income and disabled people,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: that have cut funding to that program too. This is
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a it's a trend, and these cumulative policies are expected
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to result in ten million more people becoming uninsured over
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the next decade, according to budget analysts. So I think
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: it's going to be tough to reopen this and create
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: these subsidies out of scratch. It's much harder than continuing
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: existing policy that maintains the status quo. Generally, that's an
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: easier fight than resuscitating these when hospitals are struggling and
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: when patients are struggling.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, we've tended to say over the years that
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the state of the US, and certainly even before Obamacare
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: was passed, the state of the US health system was
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: very much a function of the strength of the insurers
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: and to some extent, the hospitals that they had been
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: able to prevent reforms that in Congress that would potentially
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: be beneficial for individual consumers. Not least going to single pair,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: which is the extreme example, but moving towards that had
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: been stopped every time by this overwhelming power of that lobby.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Is there some sign here that lobby is in itself
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: weakening in the face of this kind of ideological resistance
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: of the Republicans because they obviously don't want they would
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: like to have this insurance these subsidies kick back in.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Certainly, I think it is a demonstration of their waning
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: influence for both hospitals, which you know there are a
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: lot of times the largest employer in a congressional district
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and also insures. And the President attacked health insurance companies
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: repeatedly on social media in kind of the course of
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: this debate, but he's made it very clear that he
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: is not a fan of insurance, thinks they're too profitable.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: And with hospitals, they just weren't able to swing their
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: swing their members in the way that they used to
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: because you know, Republicans are scared to stand up to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Trump and they didn't want to be the people who
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: who stood in the way of his big signature domestic
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: policy and tax bill, like that's a big ask of people,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and in the past they were able to find champions
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: who would do that for them, and in the second
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Trump administration they haven't been able to do it. I
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: think it shocked a lot of people here in Washington
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: how little they have been able to do to avert
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: these cuts.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: Well, I think we're leaving President Trump with something interesting
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: to think about. The insurance this very boring micro topic.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: If brooks rise, it could be one of the reasons
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: why we don't start manufacturing again in the US despite
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: his efforts, and it also might be why he continues
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: to not get credit for a great economy. Rachel, thank
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: you very much thanks for listening to trump Andonomics from Bloomberg.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: It was hosted by me, Stephanie Flanders and I was
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: joined by brook Sutherland and Rachel Caused. Trumpanomics was produced
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: by Samasadi and Moses and Dam with help from Amy
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Keene and special thanks to Rachel Lewis Kriskey. Sound design
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: is by Blake Maples and Kelly Gary and Sage Bowman
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: is Bloomberg's head of podcasts and please to help others
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: find and enjoy Trumpnomics, please rate and review it highly
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: wherever you listen.