Latest / Brian Thomas / AFP - 10 reasons to let Biden’s Covid credits expire

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AFP - 10 reasons to let Biden’s Covid credits expire · Brian Thomas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wednesday. It's a time of the week normally hearing from
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Donald O'Neil from Americans for prosperity. But you know what,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Americans will prosperity filled with a bunch of great people.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's not just Donald and' neil. Today, Lauren Stewart joins
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the program from AFP, subbing in for Donovan and Neil
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to talk about Obamacare subsidies, all the rage these days
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: as far as a topic. Laurence Stewart, Welcome to the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Morning Show. It's a real pleasure to have you on.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to be on. I will do my best.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I've got big shoes to follow with Donan.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're gonna be fine, So listen this. The
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Obamacare fraud is just absolutely insane. I brought back up
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a topic I talked about last week, this GAO report
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: where they tested the Obamacare substies and found out that
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: no one is minding the store. Now, I will acknowledge
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: that there's some paper obligations. You're supposed to provide your
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: income level, You're supposed to provide a proper Social Security
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: number in order to get enrolled, YadA, YadA, YadA. No
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: one's minding the store behind the scenes. So these so
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: called protections against fraud wasted abuse seem to exist on paper,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: but if someone isn't following up, people get the word
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  Speaker 1: and it ends up literally billions and billions of dollars.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And the figures you have from Americans for prosperity, the
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  Speaker 1: under the recent expansions that costs the American taxpayers one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five billion dollars a year, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of it is fraud wasted abuse. I think we're owed
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: an obligation to mind the store, and we boil it
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  Speaker 1: down on the along those simplistic terms. But let's listen
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to that. Let's talk the reasons. Why. Why were there
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Why was there a waiver on the income eligibility cap
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of sixty two to five? It was COVID, right, yes, yeah, So.
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  Speaker 2: That's the first thing to understand about what we call
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the BIBE in COVID credits was this was a temporary
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  Speaker 2: or supposedly right nothing Ronald Reagan says, nothing lasts as
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: long as a temporary government program, and I think we're
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: seeing tempt at that at play here. But these are
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: meant to be a temporary emergency provision during the COVID pandemic.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I don't think we can point to a single COVID
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  Speaker 2: policy that was worthwhile. This is certainly example of that.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: To get more people in roles in Obamacare, the method was,
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  Speaker 2: you know, provide support for people who are maybe losing
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: their jobs and need health insurance. But to your point,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: no one was minding the store. I ordered takeout last
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: night and had to do two step verification to get
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: my pizza delivered to my front door. Yet on the
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: ACA there are thousands of invalid and non existent Social
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Security numbers that are receiving subsidized health coverage. And I
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  Speaker 2: mean you might say, how are they receiving it if
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  Speaker 2: they're not people including the fifty eight thousand social securities
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: of diseased and rolies. Well, the assurance companies are receiving
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  Speaker 2: these subsidies and just banking them because they're not actually
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: providing any healthcare or coverage for these hypothetical people. Another
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  Speaker 2: example that's still illustrated in this is one single social
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Security number appeared on over one hundred and twenty policies
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  Speaker 2: and another was used for over seventy one years of coverage.
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  Speaker 2: You cannot make this stuff.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Up, No, you can't, and you know, the lawyer on
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  Speaker 1: me immediately says, wait a second. The insurance companies are
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  Speaker 1: accepting this money but they're not using it in connection
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  Speaker 1: with someone's medical care, then maybe they're culpable in some
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  Speaker 1: legal sense. Maybe they should be brought to justice for
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: accepting money and taking money when the knew full well
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  Speaker 1: that they weren't doing anything with the money except pocketing it.
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  Speaker 2: This is where government is too big, right, and we
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: hear this a lot across issues, But if the government
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  Speaker 2: is setting up a subsidy program, it's actually on them
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  Speaker 2: to fraud check and double check that people social security
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  Speaker 2: numbers are correct. I mean, I would love for insurance
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  Speaker 2: to say, hey, we're making forty billion extra dollars a
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: year based on fraud or the twenty four million in
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: rollies that you guys are accounting for, only twelve million
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: actually used health insurance last year. The other half didn't
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: have a single medical claim. Highly suspiciously. But if the
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: government's going to get this big and think their fingernails
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: this far into healthcare, it is on them to be
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: responsible and keep it up. But at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day, we know that government involvement in healthcare actually
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  Speaker 2: has driven up the cost for American patients and families tremendously.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're talking about premium increases over seventy five
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  Speaker 2: percent from Obamacare's implementation. So ideally, if the government's going
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  Speaker 2: to do something, they're going to fraud check themselves because
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  Speaker 2: it's actually coming out of their bank account, the United
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  Speaker 2: States Treasury.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and therein lies the rub and no one's government
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  Speaker 1: seems to really care that there's fraud wasted abuse because
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: they can print money and they don't have a fiduciary
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  Speaker 1: obligation to the American tax player. There's a number of
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  Speaker 1: other points we need to go over on this, because
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  Speaker 1: there is just insane amounts of holes and problems with
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: this Obamacare things. Let's pause. We will bring Lauren Stewart
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  Speaker 1: from Americans for Process, already doing an admirable job this
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: morning station seven forty here if you have kc DE
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: talk station, No, it's not Donald and Neil for Americans
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: for Prosperity, it's Lauren Stewart. We're running through the multiple
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: reasons to let Biden's COVID credits expire. Lauren, I must
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  Speaker 1: observe as I have multiple many times and my listeners
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  Speaker 1: maybe know what's coming. As we went into the shutdown,
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  Speaker 1: the Republicans agree to the twenty twenty four spending levels
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to deprive the Democrats of an argument about cuts those
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: evil Republicans are gonna cut, so it makes their argument
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: about what they wanted, you know, a little more plausible. No,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: we're keeping funding levels at the Biden here, you've got
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: nothing to complain about. You're the one that put the
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  Speaker 1: expiration of the subsidies in place end of December. We're
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: gonna let that happen. COVID's over. So lots of great
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: reasons or arguments to defeat what the Democrats wanted. But
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: here we are again. They're teeing up the subsidies again,
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  Speaker 1: and we got more Republicans now thinking about, well, maybe
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: go ahead and do that. Let's continue the subsidies until
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  Speaker 1: we get past twenty twenty six, because the Democrats are
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  Speaker 1: going to be screaming and about the evil Republicans taking
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: away medical insurance from millions of Americans. They got that
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  Speaker 1: political argument staring in the face. So, Lauren, what's the alternative.
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  Speaker 1: They can't even get the twelve appropriations build passed by
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  Speaker 1: the deadline, which has been extended. How are they going
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  Speaker 1: to get in a fix to this massive problem before
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  Speaker 1: the subsidies expire, before a vote on the subsidies. I
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  Speaker 1: don't see that as even possible. Where are we, Lauren?
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  Speaker 2: So? Number one, a way to lower costs for Americans
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  Speaker 2: on the Affordable Care Act and outside of the Affordable
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Care Act is to allow the Biden COVID credits to expire.
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  Speaker 2: These COVID credits drive up inflationary healthcare costs for folks
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  Speaker 2: within the ACA. Here's what we're talking about. For folks
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  Speaker 2: and in the ACA, over a third of their medical
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  Speaker 2: claims are denied nineteen thousand dollars in out of pocket costs.
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  Speaker 2: So we need these Biden COVID credits to go way
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  Speaker 2: just to bring down those numbers within the ACA. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 2: whatever the government subsidizes, the rest of us have to
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  Speaker 2: increase our pain and on to pay for our own
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  Speaker 2: health insurance and then also for these subsidies. So Number one,
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  Speaker 2: what they need to do. What is the most important
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  Speaker 2: fix Congress can do right now regarding the Biden COVID
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  Speaker 2: credits is nothing. They're set to expire. Let them expire.
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  Speaker 2: Number two, there are real reforms and other options out
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  Speaker 2: there that are led by conservatives. Now, do I think
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  Speaker 2: they get to the president's death by the end of
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: the year. I don't think so, but that would be wonderful.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: And I'm not rolling anything out. It's Christmas season, so
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: we'll see. But these conservative Republican lead proposals emphasize on
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the real crux of the issue here in healthcare, and
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: that's lowering costs and increasing access. So you see alternatives
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: like the Cassidy Creboats proposal, which focuses on funding patients,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: not insurance companies, similar with other proposals in the House
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  Speaker 2: of Representatives that expand tools like how Sam's accounts you're
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: able to put away your own tax advantage dollars to
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  Speaker 2: use for qualified medical expenses. Anything you pay for with
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  Speaker 2: the n AHSA is already fifteen to seventeen percent cheaper
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  Speaker 2: right off the top because of the tax advantage. Let
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: alone that in some instances it is actually faster and
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  Speaker 2: more affordable to self pay for various aspects in health care.
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  Speaker 2: So what's different about this healthcare fight is than say,
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  Speaker 2: the implementation of Obamacare, even repail and replaces that. There
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: are a number of other conservative lead solutions that do
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  Speaker 2: drive down costs, increase access, and really work to empower patients,
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  Speaker 2: not the system and not the government in healthcare. So
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  Speaker 2: what is ahead is really looking at who stands for
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  Speaker 2: what on that leader soon tomorrow is going to put
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  Speaker 2: the Schumer three year clean extension. Democrats are aoka with
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  Speaker 2: fifty eight thousand deceased and rolies getting care, twelve million
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  Speaker 2: enrollies not using their medical care, all of the fraud,
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  Speaker 2: waste and abuse that comes with these Biden COVID credits.
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  Speaker 2: Going to give Democrats the opportunity to vote in favor
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  Speaker 2: of a three year clean extension. He's also going to
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  Speaker 2: put a solution on the floor that is a really
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  Speaker 2: great line in the sand and framework for conservative care
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  Speaker 2: that Cassidy Crepo plan. Now it is brand new, a
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  Speaker 2: lot of Senators that are going to want to offer
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  Speaker 2: their feedback, but we'll be able to see what side
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  Speaker 2: law make your stand on in terms of you know,
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  Speaker 2: what are we for here? Are we for funding patients
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  Speaker 2: or are we for funding insurance and keeping up with
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  Speaker 2: the status quota. Quite frankly, twenty twenty four are voters
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  Speaker 2: rejected swiftly with the election of both Republican majorities and President.
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  Speaker 1: Trump, Well, I am painfully a where there's a private
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: medical insurance market out There's hundreds of medical insurance providers
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: out there that are not Obamacare. If we have the
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: right to exercise our free choice when it comes to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: selecting policies, I do commercials for a guy who does that.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: He's a broker. He works with hundreds of insurance companies.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: You go in, he finds a package of policies that
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: fit you. You can afford it. You get dollar one coverage.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: It's a lot less than Obama Care with the ten thousand,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred dollars out of pocket liability. It's just that
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  Speaker 1: most people aren't aware of the private market out there.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: They've been sold this bill of goods that you either
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: get your employee sponsored program or you go on Obamacare. No,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of options in the world, and it seems
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to me a little bit of more education in marketing
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: along those lines might go a long way to save
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: people money.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Right now, You're absolutely right. The innovations we have in
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: healthcare and health insurance are at an all time peak,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: and the folks who have access to those are beyond
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: blessed and beyond satisfied that they're out of the status
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: quo vicious cycle of regular health insurance. The interesting component
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: to that, and what we're seeing in terms of the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Biden Codd credits and the difference in how it affects
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: various states, is that some states actually outlaw those additional options.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Some states, especially Blue states, have worked very hard to
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: consolidate their health insurance market so that people actually don't
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: have access to that. So, for instance, my home state
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of Massachusetts, sure you can have an HSA, but you
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: cannot use NHSA for anything that your insurance would cover.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: So literally, you have Blue states telling people what they
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: can and cannot use their own hard earned dollars oho
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: the healthcare.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: That's crazy. I mean, just look, pete, listeners just process
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: that it's your money placed in your own health savings account,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and they're telling you what you can and can't spend
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: it on. If that money wasn't a health savings account,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you can spend your money any damn way you want.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's an HSA, so you can't. I'm sorry,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that's just wrong. And the reason is they want you
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to have to default to Obamacare. I mean, I know
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: in the AFP, Americans for Prosperity notes, millions abandoned their
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: existing coverage and in order to go for this quote
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: unquote free option because the subsidies made it appeared free.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: But that merely encouraged dependency on the government program, which
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: is exactly what the Democrats want. This is the stepping
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: block or stepping stone to medicaid for all Obamacare is,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: and that's the direction they want to go. They want
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to deprive you of all the other options that exist
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: right now, that's one.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Hundred percent right. The reason they want to deprive you
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: of all of even having access to those options is
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: because they're better, right, and given opportunity, you're not going
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: to choose Obamacare. You're going to choose something or you
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: know what, maybe maybe you are. At AFP, we're we're
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: not advocating for a repeal and replace Obamacare. We're advocating
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: for strong, swift reforms. But we believe all Americans to
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: have a personal option when it comes to their healthcare.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Health care happens to be I think the most personal
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: thing I think about with my family, especially as a
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: new mom, I kind of run the traps on our
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: health care and I want to make sure that myself,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: my husband, my son, and my dog athough a little
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: bit separate. There have all of the access and options
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: that we would like. So maybe for a family, maybe
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: my neighbors across the street are like, I really like
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: my Obamacare plan. I haven't met anybody who said that
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: just stick caveat there, but we want you to be
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: able to use the health insurance to drive the healthcare
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: that that fits the needs of you and your family.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: No one single family has the family exact needs as
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: another one, So crowding out all of these options that
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: really speak to that in different combinations of options is
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: like you said, a move to centralized and socialized healthcare
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: single payer. We believe there shouldn't be a public option,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: there should be a personal option.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: We all know the world of competition creates more efficiencies
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and better products. Give us the right to choose. Maybe
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Obamacare will be our choice, but if we can choose
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: to go a different route with a different perhaps one
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: of these other private insurance companies, then we'll go that
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: route and everyone will be forced to step up to
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the plate and make their product more marketable. That would
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: include Obamacare, which, as you point out in the note,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: since twenty twenty Affordable Care Act premiums have risen seventy
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: five percent. Welcome to Obamacare. Oh it's insane, Lord, I
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: can't believe we're living this reality, but there you are,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and a lot of forces are forcing us in that
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: direction and depriving us of choice and what is supposed
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: to be a free society. Americans for Prosperity usually have
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: some action items for us. What can my listeners do
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to well interject their comments and their desires into this process?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Lauren Stewart absolutely.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Well, certainly, you know, check out our healthcare initiative personaloption
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: dot com. That's going to have all of our up
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: to date initiatives in regards to the personal Option. I
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: love it because it's a different, more nuanced way of
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: thinking about healthcare and really driving the fact that health
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: insurance is not necessarily healthcare and the different ways that
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you can be empowered as an American patient and family.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, just keep up with us on
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Twitter and x at, AFP, HQ, and of course continue
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: to have mister Neil back on because we are so
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: lucky to have him, and he's certainly a hell in
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: when it comes to healthcare.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: He is that. But Lauren Stewart, you did an admirable
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: job today. I appreciate your willingness to talk to my
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: listeners to me about this unbelievably important topic. And uh
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I will encourage my listeners to go to the websites
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and learn and help out. Laurence Stewart. I hope to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: have you on again someday. Fifty five krs DE talk station.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: You want to save money