Dr. Oz makes inaccurate claims about healthcare. #healthcare #doctor

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7BPkyHJ8mB8

 

Trump to give $500 refunds to nearly 1 million Obamacare customers - POLITICO

The refunds apply to a small number of people on Obamacare’s exchanges. The Trump administration estimated in June that around 19 million people got coverage on the exchanges this year. The vast majority of them get some form of subsidy relief but face higher premiums for this year after Republicans declined to extend the 2021 law. Through this refund, nearly 1 million of the 19 million people will get some relief…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/10/trump-obamacare-refunds-aca-subsidies-01070983 

 

Affordable Care Act enrollment shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows | PBS News

The data, posted in late June by the Trump administration and first reported on by The Associated Press, reveals how changes in each state's insured population led to around 2.6 million fewer Americans having Obamacare plans in February compared with the same time last year…

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/affordable-care-act-enrollment-shrank-dramatically-in-many-states-over-the-past-year-new-federal-data-shows

 

With midterms looming, HHS and states at odds over cause of lagging Obamacare signups - POLITICO

Trump officials say better federal policing of fraud on Healthcare.gov accounts for much of the drop. Meanwhile some state Affordable Care Act exchanges blame higher costs, particularly after Congress decided not to extend beyond Jan. 1 the enhanced subsidies that brought premiums down for higher-income people...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/25/obamacare-affordability-premiums-fraud-midterms-looming-00930051

 

Affordable Care Act enrollment projected to plunge by 5 million as costs spike, analysis shows | PBS News

The projected drop-off, much starker than initial federal data suggested, reveals how rising health costs, in part due to the Jan. 1 expiration of subsidies that had helped the vast majority of enrollees pay for their coverage, are forcing Americans to make tough decisions mid-year about whether to keep or go without health coverage...

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/affordable-care-act-enrollment-projected-to-plunge-by-5-million-as-costs-spike-analysis-shows

 

Steep drop in number of people with Affordable Care Act health coverage, analysis finds

A major reason for the sharp drop in enrollment is that enhanced premium tax credits for these health plans expired at the end of last year. Congress came close to a compromise to extend the extra federal money that helped keep premiums down, but the deal fell apart...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/05/19/nx-s1-5825887/affordable-care-act-health-insurance-price

Wendell Potter on The Healthcare Crisis (Al Franken podcast on YouTube)

In a major blow to American healthcare, Congress has let the ACA subsidies expire. This means higher premiums and, as a result, fewer Americans enrolling. We are joined by Wendell Potter, former VP of Corporate Communications for Cigna turned whistleblower and healthcare reform advocate. Since 2009, Wendell has pulled back the curtain on how insurance giants game the system to prioritize profits over patients.

Wendell shares the two stories demonstrating the inhumanity of the American healthcare system that pushed him to speak out. He also talks about the impact of the expiring subsidies and why it could be what he calls a "death spiral." But don't worry! Donald Trump has a plan... or at least concepts of a plan.

Al and Wendell talk about the accomplishments of the ACA, while also acknowledging that Democrats should have done more to strengthen it during the Biden administration. Now with Trump and the Republicans in charge, any chance at meaningful reform is out the window.

Plus, we revisit the December 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and why that struck a nerve with so many Americans. 

• READ Wendell's Substack, HEALTH CARE un-covered: https://healthcareuncovered.substack.com

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/MmXYc7aYBGs?si=5oNQ4WOMLoZEttza

Democrats make pitch to keep no-premium Obamacare plans - POLITICO

More than half of the ACA enrollees in Georgia make between $15,000 and $20,000 a year and are enrolled in no-premium plans, according to Warnock's office...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/15/democrats-make-pitch-to-keep-no-premium-obamacare-plans-00729669 

 

Republican Attack on Obama BACKFIRES Spectacularly with Supreme Court LOSS

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yKp59TD_-0A

 

Democrats are united in bashing GOP on Obamacare. Medicare for All could reopen a rift. - POLITICO

The once-fringe policy that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) mainstreamed during his presidential campaigns has become a rallying cry for his favored candidates and other progressives across battleground primaries, as Democrats work to make health care costs central to next year's midterms and as the party base clamors for fighters willing to disrupt the status quo. The push for Medicare for All, which receded during the more moderate Biden era, comes as Democrats have otherwise been unified on their health care messaging, forcing Republicans onto defense over their refusal to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies... 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/21/democrats-have-been-united-in-bashing-the-gop-on-obamacare-medicare-for-all-could-reopen-a-rift-00701232 

 

Weekly Roundup: Cruelty as Policy, From Healthcare to Trans Panic (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

Dan Miller unpacks how Republican policy and ideology are converging around harm rather than governance. He begins with healthcare, breaking down how congressional action allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to lapse and what that means for millions of Americans who rely on them. Rather than offering alternatives, the GOP continues to frame healthcare through an ideological lens that treats public support as illegitimate, even when the human cost is clear.

From there, Dan traces the familiar shift from policy failure to moral panic, focusing on the escalating attacks on trans youth. He examines the House passage of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Protect Children’s Innocence Act, the Trump administration’s push to ban gender affirming care for minors, and recent FDA actions targeting breast binders. Dan connects these moves to a broader right wing strategy that defines itself through opposition to marginalized groups, warning that restrictions justified in the name of protecting children and morality often pave the way for wider government overreach. He closes by looking at Pete Hegseth’s influence inside the military and the dangers of folding Christian nationalism into institutions meant to serve a pluralistic society.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-w8in9-29ab3733

 

‘Our message is simple’: Democrats unite as GOP again struggles to address health care - POLITICO

Republicans are confronting old divisions as members clash over expiring insurance subsidies used by millions of Americans...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/15/gop-obamacare-message-muddled-00690145 

 

Obamacare expiration will have ‘death spiral’ effect on US healthcare – experts

When you increase premiums dramatically, "the healthy people drop out and therefore the pool is sicker", said Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University. 

It becomes a "death spiral", Anderson said. "The sicker people are the only ones that stay in the program until it becomes no longer sustainable and the insurance company stops even offering the plan," Anderson said. 

Those people with high deductibles or no insurance could also struggle to pay medical bills if they become sick or injured…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/14/aca-obamacare-expires

 

House Republicans unveil new health care plan - The Washington Post

Neither of the bipartisan plans includes broader abortion restrictions, which most Republicans are demanding must be included in any ACA subsidy extension. Democrats have said they cannot accept more restrictions on abortion coverage. 

That's likely to become a dividing line as the GOP plan is considered in the House. If the amendment to extend the ACA subsidies doesn't include additional abortion coverage restrictions, most House Republicans are likely to reject it. It's unclear whether enough Democrats would join the bipartisan group to overcome GOP opposition…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/12/house-republicans-healthcare-plan/

 

Senate rejects dueling health care bills as Obamacare deadline looms - Live Updates - POLITICO

The Senate rejected dueling health care bills Thursday, all but guaranteeing that Obamacare subsidies used by more than 20 million Americans will lapse at the end of the year...

 

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/12/11/congress/senate-rejects-health-care-bills-00686855 

 

What fraud? State Obamacare officials don’t see the problem GOP subsidy opponents do - POLITICO

State health care exchanges say they have few problems with fraud. Instead of killing the subsidies, policy experts suggest fixing the federal exchanges instead…

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/11/states-argue-enhanced-obamacare-subsidies-not-the-cause-of-fraud-00686216  

Frustrated Republicans move to force Obamacare vote as warnings mount about the midterms - POLITICO

The move to sidestep Speaker Mike Johnson came as a growing number of mainstream House Republicans publicly warned that their leaders' apparent plan to allow the tax credits to expire without a replacement in place will cost them their majority in next year's midterm elections...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/10/frustrated-republicans-move-to-force-obamacare-vote-as-warnings-mount-about-the-midterms-00685423  

"My Republican Friends Understand They Got A Political PROBLEM"

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dA1J1ApLxrs

 

Maddow: This is what Democrats have been screaming about

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/X_qo4IP_L5k

Weekly Roundup: Kristi Noem Implicated, Erika Kirk’s Love Language, and Bill McKibben on the Tragedy of American Christianity (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

Brad and Dan are back from the American Academy of Religion conference in Boston and kick off this episode with some love for the folks they met there before diving into a wild week in American politics and religion. They start with the viral moment between Erika Kirk and JD Vance at a TPUSA event, unpacking the media frenzy, the rumors about Kirk’s political aspirations, and what this says about the internal dynamics of a GOP that’s trying to blend celebrity, piety, and power. From there, they break down the Department of Justice’s statement implicating Kristi Noem in deportation flights and what that level of entanglement means for accountability within the MAGA movement.

The second half of the episode takes a thoughtful turn as Brad and Dan dig into Bill McKibben’s essay “They’re Doing to America What They Did to Christianity,” exploring how nostalgia and selective memory shape everything from Christian identity to policy debates. They look at why both right wing and progressive versions of Christian nationalism are so dangerous, how civilizational populism reshaped politics during and after the Obama years, and why the GOP still has no coherent healthcare plan. Despite the heavy topics, the hosts offer reasons for hope with updates on recent legal wins, global news like Bolsonaro’s sentencing in Brazil, and reminders of why staying engaged matters.
Interview: 

https://straightwhiteamericanjesus.com/episodes/weekly-roundup-kristi-noem-implicated-erika-kirks-love-language-and-bill-mckibben-on-the-tragedy-of-american-christianity/