Screwing over poor people has definite feature-not-bug status for Republicans. Screwing over middle-class people is usually something they try to pretend they’re not doing, because “party that everyone knows screws over the middle class” is not a good electoral strategy. So the question about Donald Trump’s current shenanigans with Obamacare’s cost-sharing subsidies is whether Republicans can convince the middle-class people Trump will be hurting that the blame for their pain really lies with Democrats or poor people.
Trump continues to threaten to cut off cost-sharing subsidies that cover co-payments and deductibles for low-income people. But since the law requires those patients to get that help, the uncertainty caused by Trump’s threats means insurance companies are passing along the costs to middle-class people who buy unsubsidized insurance on the marketplace. The before-and-after premium increases those patients would see are enormous:
Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner said rates would rise by 8.8 percent next year if the cost payments continue; if Mr. Trump ends them, rates will soar by 36.3 percent. While some insurers and state regulators have discussed limiting the sharpest increases to plans for people who receive premium subsidies — allowing unsubsidized customers to get lower rates outside the marketplaces — it remains to be seen how widespread such actions would be. [...]
In North Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield said it would have sought an 8.8 percent average increase, instead of 22.9 percent, if not for the uncertainty.
So. Can Republicans convince the people hit by these increases—and by insurers pulling out of some markets altogether—that their soaring costs are Democrats’ fault because the Affordable Care Act has failed? Or will people realize that Donald Trump’s actions are responsible for their giant premium increases? Because that is exactly what’s happening here. Trump is trying to kill Obamacare even before congressional Republicans get around to repealing it, and he does not care who suffers as a result. Actually, suffering is part of the plan, because it’s easier to convince people the law is bad if they are suffering under it.
But maybe people won’t be so easily fooled. Maybe they’ll realize that at the same time as congressional Republicans are trying to pass a law that would kick 23 million people off of health coverage, Trump is trying to break the current law that keeps people insured, and that breaking it means hurting the people who’ve benefited. What are you doing to make sure the people in your life know the real score?