I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky

This proposal would be even worse than the no deal on extending ACA subsidies bill being floated earlier:

Democrats and Republicans have been locked for more than a month in a standoff over healthcare coverage, with Democrats repeatedly blocking a GOP bill to reopen the government. Without an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act credits, which run roughly $30 billion a year, more than 20 million Americans are set to see increases in their insurance premiums. Open enrollment for next year started this month.

A key development that appeared to break the logjam in the negotiations was that Senate Republicans proposed that some healthcare funding be provided directly to households rather than be used to pay for a one-year extension of enhanced ACA subsidies.

That GOP proposal involves sending federal money into flexible-spending accounts instead of to insurance companies that use the money to offset the cost of premiums, so consumers pay a smaller monthly bill. The money could be used to cover deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs, which Republicans see as a way to give consumers more choice and control healthcare inflation.

This is an incredibly obvious scam. First of all, money spent from HSAs goes to “private insurance companies” just as surely as the ACA’s tax credits do, just less efficiently and equitably. It will allow Trump to put his name on money being sent to individuals, allowing him to take credit for a Democratic program while making it worse. And this is needless to say an unsubtle move toward trying to kill the ACA and replace it with something like the actual Heritage Plan rather than the imaginary one. The idea that “giving people control” over healthcare expenses will improve access to healthcare is crazy, but once it’s written into law that this is better than the ACA’s credits the GOP will run with it. And it takes the most potent issue Democrats have largely off the table while still making things materially worse.

This would be worse than nothing. A clean spending resolution would be better than this. Any senator voting for this should face a primary challenge at the earliest available opportunity.

…I definitely think this is driving some of the sudden urgency:

not enough chatter about how frequently members fly and how attacking airport capacity directly affects them in a way that cutting SNAP does not— Joshua Erlich (@joshuaerlich.bsky.social) Nov 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM