National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp and Executive Vice President Brandon Arnold on Thursday condemned the federal government shutdown as a completely avoidable crisis.
“Demanding over a trillion dollars in new spending in exchange for a seven week funding patch is fiscal malpractice, plain and simple,” Sepp said. “With the national debt ballooning beyond $37 trillion every day, taxpayers deserve real spending reform, not more tiresome games with the country’s future.”
In an ironic twist that underscores Washington’s dysfunction, National Taxpayers Union’s long-scheduled budget workshop to help congressional staff understand the mechanics of fiscal responsibility was set to take place tomorrow. It is now postponed because of the shutdown.
“Shutdowns never work out well for taxpayers,” National Taxpayers Union Executive Vice President Brandon Arnold said. “They drive down the trust that Americans have for the government, and display the inability of adults to act like adults.”
At issue are the enhanced, COVID-era tax subsidies for Obamacare health insurance plans. These premium tax credits are scheduled to expire at the end of this year and return to levels set under former President Obama’s signature health care legislation, instead of emergency-level amounts designed for the pandemic. These credits do not go to taxpayers, instead incentivizing insurance companies to increase rates.
- The number of uninsured Americans is rising despite the subsidies. (KFF, Paragon Institute, Census)
Democrats themselves admit the subsidies are plagued by fraud from “rogue health insurance brokers.” (Senate Finance, Congress.gov)
History shows estimates of health coverage losses are likely too large. The Congressional Budget Office has overestimated coverage losses from past policy proposals, and acknowledges uncertainty about its estimate that 3.8 million (out of 12 million enhanced premium credit enrollees) are at risk over the next decade. (NTU analysis)
Nearly 80% of enrollees are facilitated by brokers, not direct beneficiaries. Subsidies go straight to insurance companies, and CMS suspended roughly 1,000 fraudulent brokers last year. (KFF)
- Almost 3 million Americans are enrolled in both Medicaid and the ACA Marketplace. If COVID subsidies expire, the lowest-income Americans will still have Medicaid coverage.
(HHS)
“Senate Democrats should join Republicans in passing a clean continuing resolution. Equally important, it’s past time to put aside partisanship and work for real solutions to promote fiscal discipline and prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again,” Sepp said. “We stand ready to help.”