NEWT GINGRICH: The Affordable Care Act Was Never Affordable

Democrats are rapidly digging themselves into a deep hole.

Their battle cry during the Chuck Schumer shutdown is that they are determined to get another $400 billion of taxpayers’ money to subsidize a Biden administration, COVID-era health insurance subsidy – and they’ll hold the whole government hostage for it.

Their polling must show that on the surface this battle cry works. People care about health and health care. They see it as a moral issue in which helping people survive outweighs money.

However, the heart of the Democrats’ argument is that the Affordable Care Act is simply not affordable.

In fact, the Affordable Care Act simply distorted an already unsustainable system. It pumped more money into insurance companies, so hospitals and insurance companies could charge more for medical services and coverage. The Affordable Care Act inflated health care costs – and the burden of those costs on government, employers, and every working American.

Just pay attention to who is buying the ads supporting the increased subsidies. It’s the insurance companies, big hospitals, and their powerful lobbyists. In effect, they are taking our tax dollars to buy ads that demand that we give them more tax dollars.

In the process, the insurance companies become steadily more dependent on government and more exposed to red tape and regulation. This makes our health system less innovative, competitive, cost conscious, and affordable. At the same time the quality of care and service diminishes.

Republicans should take note: A successful governing conservatism does not make the American people pay for past policy mistakes. Millions of Americans have been drawn into a taxpayer-subsidized system which is unsustainable. Nancy Pelosi’s Congress, Harry Reid’s Senate, and Barack Obama’s White House made this mistake – not Republicans or American taxpayers.

The challenge for conservatives – after the government is reopened – is to find a more competitive, innovative, and affordable health system that doesn’t harm people who have been hoodwinked and victimized by the left’s terrible decisions.