Stories began trickling in of Donald Trump voters realizing with horror that when you vote for the man who promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no plan B in sight, you could lose your health insurance. Who could have guessed?
Across red America, the same phrase: Wait, this hurts?
Republicans in Congress appear poised to allow important ACA subsidies Expires at the end of the yearand the ramifications fall most heavily on their constituents — working-class families and retirees who have relied on this subsidy to keep coverage affordable.
Related | Republicans should love Obamacare. Their voters depend on it.
Meet some of the Trump voters who voted for their health care.
Chrissie Meehan, a hairdresser in Pennsylvania, has a neck problem that requires surgery.
The 51-year-old voted for Republican Donald Trump for president last year, something she said she feels almost embarrassed about now that the Republican-led government hasn’t renewed the subsidies that help her afford her coverage through the state’s marketplace. I mentioned Associated Press.
“I work hard, try to survive and do it the right way and pay myself,” Meehan said. “I don’t want free. I just want it to be affordable for my income.”
Here she thinks that she needs special treatment because of her low income, and so she votes for the Republican Party despite that. Bad move, Chrissy.
Let’s head to Florida, where the family of insurance agent Alan Reynolds is on the verge of collapse.
“Losing her spousal benefit means she will likely pay about $1,200 or more each month, up from about $500 in 2024.” I mentioned The Washington Post.
“I voted for Trump,” Reynolds said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
Why, oh why, wouldn’t he expect this? Literally Trump a promise To get rid of the Affordable Care Act – without even proposing an alternative beyond the “plan concept.”
The irony, of course, is that this is a mess Hit disproportionately Republican voters in Republican states.
at least two Opinion polls It shows that MAGA overwhelmingly supports keeping the ACA benefits, proving how deceived they are. If they want the government to help them, they must be democrats.
In Idaho, retired teacher Bob McMichael will lose his and his partner’s health care.
A few years after they retired, but before they were eligible for Medicare, McMichael, 63, and his wife, 62, got the cheapest plan they could find on the market. Their monthly premiums were about $1,800, but Obamacare subsidies kept their monthly payments at about $50 a month. I mentioned Idaho Statesman.
If that happens, McMichael and his wife plan to drop their coverage. He hopes they find a cheaper plan, but he’s not optimistic. The plan they chose last year was the least expensive option, “other than no access to health care.”
McMichael taught in Idaho’s junior high — home to Adams County, which voted for Trump 76% to 21%. None of the stories featuring him (and there are many) indicate who he voted for, and as a teacher, there is a non-zero possibility that he was one of the 21% who supported Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
But no matter how it sounds, the fact is that thanks to its neighbors, Idaho will be particularly severely affected Because of the possibility of losing benefits.
McMichael may have been one of the good guys — and now he’s collateral damage from his neighbors’ self-destructive efforts to deny themselves good health care.
Related | The GOP is still in the “idea” stage of magically reforming health care
These are the people who will now have to consider whether to buy groceries or go to the doctor, or even consider the idea of coverage at all.
People will die.
that it Open to Democrats To rebuild public trust around a populist economic agenda focused on issues of affordability and cost of living. It won’t reach everyone, the MAGA cult is resilient and deep. But if we took away 5 to 10 percent of the Republican vote, and activated some nonvoters, it would be a very different story.