Thank the Democrats for Upcoming Obamacare Rate Hikes

When the health insurers announce their 2019 premiums, they will for the fourth year in a row be far higher than the exorbitant rates you have already been struggling to pay. And, as is their standard practice, the Democrats and the “news” media will lie about the cause of the increases. They will attribute the hikes to the “sabotage” of Obamacare by President Trump and his evil Republican accomplices in Congress. In reality, you will have to pay more for health coverage next year because the Democrats refused to accept a generous GOP compromise on the omnibus spending bill released Wednesday.

Indeed, the compromise offered by the Republicans was so generous that many conservatives and libertarians (including yours truly) denounced it as corporate welfare for the insurance companies. In other words, the GOP offered the Democrats what they claimed to want — premium relief for Obamacare enrollees — and the response was a resounding “NO.” This was a slap in the face for Republicans, like Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins, who have gone the extra mile to work with the Democrats to save enrollees from yet another premium increase. Alexander explained the impasse thusly:

It’s being blocked in the omnibus bill for one reason and one reason alone, and that is that Democrats refuse to apply the Hyde [Amendment] compromise on abortion funding that has been in every appropriations bill since 1976.

Senator Collins called the Democrat objection a “non-issue,” and added the following:

I really don’t understand why there are some who are hung up on that issue, and I say that as someone who has a very good record on choice issues from the perspective of the pro-choice groups.