With Obamacare subsidies set to expire in just over two weeks, Mike Johnson went on Fox News to reassure Americans that Republicans are “very close” to a solution. But as always, he still couldn’t say what that solution actually is.
On Saturday, December 13, House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared on The Ingraham Angle to talk about healthcare again. The timing wasn’t accidental. Enhanced ACA subsidies are set to expire in half a month, which will raise premiums for millions of Americans. Host Laura Ingraham asked Johnson plainly, “How close are Republicans to some type of agreement” on a healthcare “fix?”
But Johnson’s response was no different from his previous “notebooks” or “60-70 pages full of ideas” statements. “We’re very close, and we are delighted to present this and put it through the House next week,” he said. And that was all he said about the progress. The details never came.
Instead, Johnson immediately pivoted backward, blaming Democrats for passing Obamacare 15 years ago. He repeated the long-running Republican talking point that the Affordable Care Act “did exactly the opposite” of what was promised. He reminded people that premiums have “skyrocketed” and will continue to do so. As if that’s not exactly why people are demanding a fix.
And then, he probably opened Trump’s speech paper and repeated what we’ve been hearing from the president for weeks:
“So the Democrats’ proposal right now is to subsidize it further. They want the American taxpayer to give billions of dollars to insurance companies in a program that is just riddled with fraud, waste, and abuse. We’re not going to do that.”
So, they’re not going to do that. Perfect. But what will they do instead? Johnson announced that “Republicans are bringing common sense solutions.” He also claimed these solutions “will actually lower the premiums for all Americans.” But what are those solutions, sir? “It’s long overdue, and we’ve got some great ideas to do it,” Johnson said with a smirk.
Johnson says Republicans will go forward with the ‘truth’
Laura Ingraham then gave Johnson another opening. She framed the situation as Democrats trying to blame Republicans for the fallout of expiring subsidies. Mr. Speaker took the cue and leaned harder into the script. He accused the “mainstream media” of parroting the “talking points of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats.” Then, to make sure everyone’s laughing, he insisted that Republicans would defeat that narrative with “simple truth” and “facts.” Very thoughtful.
We explain to the American people that the reason their costs are out of control is because they created a broken system. We have the solutions to fix it. That is the message, and the truth, I think, is what’s going to prevail as you go into the election year.”
Then came a long detour. Johnson cited a recent Government Accountability Office report, alleging widespread fraud in ACA subsidies. He talked about fraudulent applications, duplicate Social Security numbers, payments to deceased individuals, etc. He rattled off figures and framed them as proof that Democrats built a “broken system.” What he did not do, at any point, was explain what Republicans will replace it with.
There was no outline, framework, policy mechanism, or timeline beyond “next week.” Just variations of the same promise: we’re close, we have solutions, and we’ve got great ideas. Guess we’ll have to wait till this weekend to see what the Republicans’ great ideas were.
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