Obamacare is, without a doubt, one of the worst laws to pass in the history of this country. It lowered costs, promised healthcare to the poor, unicorns, rainbows, and more.
Of course, as with anything government-run, nothing worked as it was supposed to. Healthcare became more expensive for everyone, with premiums rising for those privately insured, and those costs aren't going to stop rising anytime soon. Middle-class families bear the brunt of the cost, and the deductibles are only growing, forcing them to choose less-than-ideal plans just to afford them.
It's safe to say that the "Affordable Care Act" is anything but affordable.
Even though the ACA is a disaster, the Democrats are defending it like it's the Alamo. According to some Democrats, especially the ones on the more radical side of the left, they will defend it to the last man or die trying. Other Democrats aren't so sure. As my friend and colleague Joe Cunningham reported on Sunday, a bipartisan deal went through the Senate with eight Democrats voting in favor of it.
Rest assured, those eight Democrats are going to be looked at as traitors, namely because the bill doesn't say anything about continuing government subsidies for the ACA, only that it will be voted for at a later date, which may be a long wait for a train that won't come, seeing as how Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-4) said a vote would never hit the floor so long as he's in charge of it.
Read: Bipartisan Deal to End the Schumer Shutdown Passes Senate, Heads to House for Vote
As Cunningham points out, the ACA is central to the Democrats' efforts to keep the government open. The excuse, as Bernie Sanders would put it, is that caving to Republicans on the ACA would leave millions without healthcare, give tax cuts to the one percent, and thousands would die... you've heard his song and dance before.
I find it interesting that, as RFK pointed out, Sanders was the largest recipient of pharmaceutical industry dollars, and though Sanders likes to say it was all from rank and file members, $1.5 million sure is a lot of money. Of course, as Kennedy noted, almost every Democrat on the panel during his confirmation hearing got money from the medical industry, not just Sanders.
Read: Bernie Sanders' Opposition to the Amended CR, Rant About 'Healthcare for All' Is One for the Books
RFK Jr. Roasts Bernie As He Steps in It Big Time With 'Big Pharma' Rant
At the core of everything a Democrat does is money and power. If obedience to Big Pharma and insurance companies covers the money part, the power aspect still remains, and it's that part that truly makes up the Democrats' fight for the ACA.
The issue for the Democrats is that the ACA isn't just a victory; it was their greatest ideological victory since the New Deal. It was a major foothold for socialized medicine in a system that their more radical voting base considers heartless and evil. Obamacare was proof that Democrats can, with the proper amount of loyalty and activism, overcome the barrier that keeps the promise of the leftist Utopia at bay.
A lot of loyalty within the Democrat Party comes from the fact that the ACA is proof that Democrats can get it done. If it collapses, the party will look ineffectual, weak, and unable to keep its promises, which would be devastating to them at this juncture since, right now, those three qualities are plaguing them already.
Ultimately, the truth of the matter is that Democrats don't actually care about the people's access to healthcare. If they did, they'd see the rising costs and reduced access to medical care as proof that Obamacare should be dumped and forgotten about as soon as possible. However, as usual, the people aren't the concern. What's most important is that the narrative that Democrats are fighting for the little guy survives, and the people believe that narrative, especially the upper-class elite who continue to support programs like the ACA from a position of good conscience rather than common sense.
They're defending an ideological beachhead, not a healthcare program.
And as a result, the very people Democrats claim to care about suffer. Their attempts at stopping the shutdown are all about leverage to keep their legacy together.
