January 1, 2026 • 12 mins
-
Objective of the Plan
- Lower healthcare costs for Americans.
- Extend expiring ACA subsidies temporarily while transitioning to a new system.
- Shift financial benefits from insurance companies to individuals.
-
Proposed Measures
- Two-year extension of Enhanced Premium Tax Credits (originally expanded during COVID-19).
- Income eligibility cap for subsidies at 700% of the federal poverty line to prevent wealthy Americans from benefiting.
- Minimum premium payments to ensure cost-sharing.
- Encourage Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and direct tax credits to individuals rather than insurers.
- Push for cost-sharing reductions that were previously blocked in Congress.
-
Financial Impact
- Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates reforms could:
- Lower premiums by 12.7%.
- Save taxpayers $30.8 billion.
- Criticism of ACA for being “unsustainable” and increasing premiums by 80% since passage.
- Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates reforms could:
-
Political Context
- Democrats opposed previous Republican attempts to include cost-sharing reductions in legislation.
- Debate over whether reforms should be bipartisan or passed via budget reconciliation.
- Trump emphasizes “power to the people” by allowing individuals to control healthcare spending.
-
Underlying Philosophy
- There is a strong focus on consumer choice and freedom.
- Opposition to government-managed healthcare and subsidies flowing to insurance companies.
- A belief that direct-to-consumer funding will reduce corruption and lower costs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can you imagine there's still eighteen being donas.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
That's just what we're learning about.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
That's Peters in California's worse, Illinois worse.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And Sanday, New York is worse a lot of other places.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So we're going to get to the bottom of all
of it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's a giants and other than that, we're gonna have
a bring movie.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Yeah, there's a reason for going here because we're going
to get to the bottom of We're going to get
that money back.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
And so about that matter. You're listening to the forty
seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good Thursday morning. Nice have you with us on the
forty seven Morning Up, Bet, and we've got one major
story for you. Donald Trump says it's time to trust
you with your health care decisions, pushing for healthcare reform
that will lower costs and give you more power over
exactly what you're paying for. So why are Democrats losing
(00:50):
their minds over this? Follow the money and we'll explain it.
But first I want to tell you about an amazing
opportunity right now that I'm involved in and I cannot
wait for you to take advantage of it. I want
you to take some incredible courses at Hillsdale College for free.
You may not know this, but Hillsdale College has been
(01:12):
influencing conservatives like myself for decades. They had a huge
impact on Charlie Kirk's life, and even as memorial service
they talked about how Charlie took class after class after
class at Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College is now offering for you,
the listeners of this show, more than forty free I
(01:32):
want to say that again, free online courses. That's right,
more than forty free online courses. You can learn about
the works of C. S. Lewis, the stories in the
Book of Genesis, the meaning of the US Constitution, the
rise and fall of the Roman Republic, or the history
of the ancient Christian Church, all with Hillsdale College's free
(01:55):
online courses. Right now, I'm personally taking the Constitution, and
this course you're going to exploit the design and the
purpose of the Constitution, the challenge is it faced during
the Civil War, and how it has been undermined for
more than a century by radical progressives and liberals. This
(02:15):
twelve lecture course is self pace. It's another reason why
I love it so start whenever and wherever in our country.
We need more Americans like you and I than understand
the Constitution and can defend the freedom of the American
people against the Left and their increasing encroachments on our
god given rights. So start your classes today for free.
(02:39):
Start your free Constitution one oh one course right now.
How do you do it? Go to Hillsdale dot edu
slash Morning Update to enroll and it's no cost. It's
easy to get started. You got to use a special
website Hillsdale dot edu slash Morning Update enroll for free
(03:00):
hillzil dot edu slash Morning Update. It's the forty seven
Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one,
it is big news. The White House is unveiling a
new healthcare framework they say will lower costs for all Americans.
This after the debacle that was exposed during the government
shutdown of just how much money we are spending to
(03:23):
subsidize the Affordable Care Act, which is anything but affordable.
The Trump White House, we're now being told, is expected
to unveil a healthcare policy framework that not only would
lower costs, but also extend expiring Obamacare subsidies while they
figure out how to move forward. MS now and Politico
(03:45):
reported both that the healthcare policy framework would include a
two year extension of the expiring enhanced Premium tax credits.
Those are the subsidies that you're paying for. Yes, so
Obamacare is not cheap at all. It did not make
things more affordable at all. In fact, it made the
healthcare insurance providers rich at the expense of you, the
(04:09):
tax payer. We also know that they will be enhanced
Obamacare subsidies, which would otherwise expire at the end of
the year. The proposal could be unveiled as early as
this coming Monday. A White House spokesman declined to confirm
the details of the plan, stating, quote, until President Trump
makes an announcement himself, any reporting about the administration's healthcare
(04:31):
positions is mere speculation. But here's what we are learning
through background. The plan apparently with lower limits on income
eligibility for credits, and that would save American taxpayers a
significant amount of money. It would also, i'm being told,
set minimum premium payments as well. According to multiple reports,
(04:52):
the proposed eligibility cap would set the subsidies to seven
hundred percent of the federal poverty line. Republicans have complained
that with the Colone Obama here in hand subseas scheme.
Wealthy Americans would benefit from the subseason what was meant
to be only temporary. Why were they temporary? It was
during the COVID nineteen coronavirus outbreak when they had these
(05:16):
extra benefits that now Democrats want to make well lasts forever,
which is insane. The White House plan also would urge
Congress to fund cost sharing reductions and plans, which Republicans
pushed for in the Big Beautiful Bill, but were next
after Senate Democrats objected to its inclusion in Trump's landmark legislation,
(05:39):
believing it violated rules on budgetary reconciliation. They claimed, Now
here's the other part that's very interesting about this. The
Congressional Budget Office found that these healthcare reforms would have
lowered healthcare premiums by twelve point seven percent and reduced
costs by decreasing the need for Obamacare and the welfare
(06:02):
of the government for the epcts known as the subsidies
for Obamacare. The plans would have also lowered the costs
if this CRS plan would have been put into effect
by thirty point eight billion dollars. Now that's literally thirty
point eight billion dollars. It would have saved you the
tax payer, and that is exactly why Democrats were against it. Now,
(06:25):
the Trump proposal would also have part of their tax
credits go straight to Americans via tax advantage savings accounts
instead of the checks going directly to healthcare insurance companies
that are getting rich to lower America's premium indirectly. The
President probably would like to go bigger than the Hill
has the appetite for, so we'll have to see how that.
(06:48):
You know, how it works out, is what the White
House Reptchieve of Staff James Blair said last week talking
about the reforms that need to be made. What we
also know is the White HOUSEPG staff saying that President
Trump would love to push for healthcare reform in a
way that would be meaningful, saying, quote, we're going to
have to have the healthcare conversation. We're going to put
(07:11):
some legislation forward. The debuie chiefs said there could be
interest in bi Parson reform. However, he said if that
path is foreclosed, there is the Parson path of reconciliation
as well. The President probably would like to go big
because there needs to be big reforms. Republican lawmakers have
said they believe the right House will release a framework
(07:32):
to lower health insurance costs, expand health savings accounts, and
scrap parts of the Affordable Care Act that are just
flat out unsustainable. In fact, much of the Obamacare program
is unsustainable without record tax dollars going to prop it up.
As I mentioned earlier, there's nothing affordable about the Affordable
(07:53):
Care Act now. The White House also signaled that the
President's interest in healthcare reform is something he believes could
be a US some change for the American people. A
slide deck shared by the House Majority leaders Stief Scalise
this last week made it clear that House GOP leadership
also falls in the overhaul camp. One slide that was
(08:14):
viewed by Politico was titled the Unaffordable Care Act and
highlighted statistics that show the premiums have increased by eighty
percent since the ACA passage aka since Obamacare became law.
It also claimed that more than fifty percent of Obamacare
and rollees did not file a single claim this year.
(08:36):
Walking into the meeting school, he said in a brief
interview that he planned to keep talking with the chairs
of three key committees of jurisdiction over health policy. That
would be ways and means, Energy and commerce, education and
the workforce. Now, healthcare became a focal point in the
national politics as Democrats shut the government down, as I
mentioned earlier for weeks over what they described as mandatory
(08:59):
Obamacare subsidies. They were not mandatory. They were enhanced during COVID,
and they will expire on purpose. The Democrats planned this
way at the end of the year. Democrats first enhance
these subsis through one point nine trillion let me say
that again, one point nine trillion in coronavirus era stimulus plans,
(09:20):
including the American Rescue Plan. They continue the subsease through
the end of twenty twenty five with the so called
Inflation Reduction Act that did anything but that. Trump weighed
in on the issue, stating that healthcare dollars should go
directly to the American people instead of through subsidies to
health insurance companies, saying it this way on social media, quote,
(09:41):
the only healthcare I will support or approve is sending
the money directly back to the people, with nothing going
to the big, fat rich insurance companies who have made
trillions and ripped off America long enough, the people will
be allowed to negotiate and by their own much better insurance.
(10:01):
Power to the people, Congress, do not waste your time
and energy on anything else. This is the only way
to have great healthcare in America. The Republican Set of
Community chairman said that a second reconciliation bill should address affordability,
which should include healthcare reform, saying the Democrats are incapable
(10:23):
of coming up with a plan that is competitive, transparent,
and actually reduces costs wine because they're lining the pockets
of their friends in the healthcare provider industry, and they
know that as long as the government's willing to send
them the check, they get rich every single time the
money comes into their accounts. This also just goes back
(10:45):
to consumer choice and freedom. President believes that you, as
an American deserve to have your money and then you
can put it to work the way that you decide
to do it, in a more responsible manner than the
corruption of the government. Doctor Mark Siegel on Fox News
Channel talking about exactly this, and here is what he
had to say on Fox News Sunday.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
But I can't get your treatments.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
What about this idea that the President has floated about
the money that flows into a lot of these subsidies,
instead of paying the insurance companies, going direct to the
consumer and letting them take the money with them where
they choose.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
He's gotten a lot of criticism for that, but he's
on the right track because it would give the consumer
more control of the situation. Health savings accounts are part
of this, being able to buy your own insurance, making
it affordable, and you choose a marketplace idea more. It's
not quite that simple. That's a huge step in the
right direction.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Well, what are your odds?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Do you so? At the end of the day, there
are two options. Either you as an American, say no, no,
no government, just be in charge of my life. Doesn't
matter how much it costs, Just you be in charge
of my health care. Or there's the Donald Trump plan,
which is he believes that you, as an American, should
decide what is best for you, that you should spend
your money in a way that is well more responsible
(11:57):
than what the government does each and every day, and
he believes that prices will lower significantly if you do
it that way. I think many Americans have made it
clear they like the way the President is describing this
the amount of corruption that we are witnessing from those
in the Democratic Party and in government who are overspending
your tax tours and what are you actually getting in return?
(12:20):
Not a lot for your money. And that's where we
are today.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow.
Can you imagine there's still eighteen being donas.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
That's just what we're learning about.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
That's Peters in California's worse, Illinois worse.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And Sanday, New York is worse a lot of other places.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So we're going to get to the bottom of all
of it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's a giants and other than that, we're gonna have
a bring movie.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Yeah, there's a reason for going here because we're going
to get to the bottom of We're going to get
that money back.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
And so about that matter. You're listening to the forty
seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good Thursday morning. Nice have you with us on the
forty seven Morning Up, Bet, and we've got one major
story for you. Donald Trump says it's time to trust
you with your health care decisions, pushing for healthcare reform
that will lower costs and give you more power over
exactly what you're paying for. So why are Democrats losing
(00:50):
their minds over this? Follow the money and we'll explain it.
But first I want to tell you about an amazing
opportunity right now that I'm involved in and I cannot
wait for you to take advantage of it. I want
you to take some incredible courses at Hillsdale College for free.
You may not know this, but Hillsdale College has been
(01:12):
influencing conservatives like myself for decades. They had a huge
impact on Charlie Kirk's life, and even as memorial service
they talked about how Charlie took class after class after
class at Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College is now offering for you,
the listeners of this show, more than forty free I
(01:32):
want to say that again, free online courses. That's right,
more than forty free online courses. You can learn about
the works of C. S. Lewis, the stories in the
Book of Genesis, the meaning of the US Constitution, the
rise and fall of the Roman Republic, or the history
of the ancient Christian Church, all with Hillsdale College's free
(01:55):
online courses. Right now, I'm personally taking the Constitution, and
this course you're going to exploit the design and the
purpose of the Constitution, the challenge is it faced during
the Civil War, and how it has been undermined for
more than a century by radical progressives and liberals. This
(02:15):
twelve lecture course is self pace. It's another reason why
I love it so start whenever and wherever in our country.
We need more Americans like you and I than understand
the Constitution and can defend the freedom of the American
people against the Left and their increasing encroachments on our
god given rights. So start your classes today for free.
(02:39):
Start your free Constitution one oh one course right now.
How do you do it? Go to Hillsdale dot edu
slash Morning Update to enroll and it's no cost. It's
easy to get started. You got to use a special
website Hillsdale dot edu slash Morning Update enroll for free
(03:00):
hillzil dot edu slash Morning Update. It's the forty seven
Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one,
it is big news. The White House is unveiling a
new healthcare framework they say will lower costs for all Americans.
This after the debacle that was exposed during the government
shutdown of just how much money we are spending to
(03:23):
subsidize the Affordable Care Act, which is anything but affordable.
The Trump White House, we're now being told, is expected
to unveil a healthcare policy framework that not only would
lower costs, but also extend expiring Obamacare subsidies while they
figure out how to move forward. MS now and Politico
(03:45):
reported both that the healthcare policy framework would include a
two year extension of the expiring enhanced Premium tax credits.
Those are the subsidies that you're paying for. Yes, so
Obamacare is not cheap at all. It did not make
things more affordable at all. In fact, it made the
healthcare insurance providers rich at the expense of you, the
(04:09):
tax payer. We also know that they will be enhanced
Obamacare subsidies, which would otherwise expire at the end of
the year. The proposal could be unveiled as early as
this coming Monday. A White House spokesman declined to confirm
the details of the plan, stating, quote, until President Trump
makes an announcement himself, any reporting about the administration's healthcare
(04:31):
positions is mere speculation. But here's what we are learning
through background. The plan apparently with lower limits on income
eligibility for credits, and that would save American taxpayers a
significant amount of money. It would also, i'm being told,
set minimum premium payments as well. According to multiple reports,
(04:52):
the proposed eligibility cap would set the subsidies to seven
hundred percent of the federal poverty line. Republicans have complained
that with the Colone Obama here in hand subseas scheme.
Wealthy Americans would benefit from the subseason what was meant
to be only temporary. Why were they temporary? It was
during the COVID nineteen coronavirus outbreak when they had these
(05:16):
extra benefits that now Democrats want to make well lasts forever,
which is insane. The White House plan also would urge
Congress to fund cost sharing reductions and plans, which Republicans
pushed for in the Big Beautiful Bill, but were next
after Senate Democrats objected to its inclusion in Trump's landmark legislation,
(05:39):
believing it violated rules on budgetary reconciliation. They claimed, Now
here's the other part that's very interesting about this. The
Congressional Budget Office found that these healthcare reforms would have
lowered healthcare premiums by twelve point seven percent and reduced
costs by decreasing the need for Obamacare and the welfare
(06:02):
of the government for the epcts known as the subsidies
for Obamacare. The plans would have also lowered the costs
if this CRS plan would have been put into effect
by thirty point eight billion dollars. Now that's literally thirty
point eight billion dollars. It would have saved you the
tax payer, and that is exactly why Democrats were against it. Now,
(06:25):
the Trump proposal would also have part of their tax
credits go straight to Americans via tax advantage savings accounts
instead of the checks going directly to healthcare insurance companies
that are getting rich to lower America's premium indirectly. The
President probably would like to go bigger than the Hill
has the appetite for, so we'll have to see how that.
(06:48):
You know, how it works out, is what the White
House Reptchieve of Staff James Blair said last week talking
about the reforms that need to be made. What we
also know is the White HOUSEPG staff saying that President
Trump would love to push for healthcare reform in a
way that would be meaningful, saying, quote, we're going to
have to have the healthcare conversation. We're going to put
(07:11):
some legislation forward. The debuie chiefs said there could be
interest in bi Parson reform. However, he said if that
path is foreclosed, there is the Parson path of reconciliation
as well. The President probably would like to go big
because there needs to be big reforms. Republican lawmakers have
said they believe the right House will release a framework
(07:32):
to lower health insurance costs, expand health savings accounts, and
scrap parts of the Affordable Care Act that are just
flat out unsustainable. In fact, much of the Obamacare program
is unsustainable without record tax dollars going to prop it up.
As I mentioned earlier, there's nothing affordable about the Affordable
(07:53):
Care Act now. The White House also signaled that the
President's interest in healthcare reform is something he believes could
be a US some change for the American people. A
slide deck shared by the House Majority leaders Stief Scalise
this last week made it clear that House GOP leadership
also falls in the overhaul camp. One slide that was
(08:14):
viewed by Politico was titled the Unaffordable Care Act and
highlighted statistics that show the premiums have increased by eighty
percent since the ACA passage aka since Obamacare became law.
It also claimed that more than fifty percent of Obamacare
and rollees did not file a single claim this year.
(08:36):
Walking into the meeting school, he said in a brief
interview that he planned to keep talking with the chairs
of three key committees of jurisdiction over health policy. That
would be ways and means, Energy and commerce, education and
the workforce. Now, healthcare became a focal point in the
national politics as Democrats shut the government down, as I
mentioned earlier for weeks over what they described as mandatory
(08:59):
Obamacare subsidies. They were not mandatory. They were enhanced during COVID,
and they will expire on purpose. The Democrats planned this
way at the end of the year. Democrats first enhance
these subsis through one point nine trillion let me say
that again, one point nine trillion in coronavirus era stimulus plans,
(09:20):
including the American Rescue Plan. They continue the subsease through
the end of twenty twenty five with the so called
Inflation Reduction Act that did anything but that. Trump weighed
in on the issue, stating that healthcare dollars should go
directly to the American people instead of through subsidies to
health insurance companies, saying it this way on social media, quote,
(09:41):
the only healthcare I will support or approve is sending
the money directly back to the people, with nothing going
to the big, fat rich insurance companies who have made
trillions and ripped off America long enough, the people will
be allowed to negotiate and by their own much better insurance.
(10:01):
Power to the people, Congress, do not waste your time
and energy on anything else. This is the only way
to have great healthcare in America. The Republican Set of
Community chairman said that a second reconciliation bill should address affordability,
which should include healthcare reform, saying the Democrats are incapable
(10:23):
of coming up with a plan that is competitive, transparent,
and actually reduces costs wine because they're lining the pockets
of their friends in the healthcare provider industry, and they
know that as long as the government's willing to send
them the check, they get rich every single time the
money comes into their accounts. This also just goes back
(10:45):
to consumer choice and freedom. President believes that you, as
an American deserve to have your money and then you
can put it to work the way that you decide
to do it, in a more responsible manner than the
corruption of the government. Doctor Mark Siegel on Fox News
Channel talking about exactly this, and here is what he
had to say on Fox News Sunday.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
But I can't get your treatments.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
What about this idea that the President has floated about
the money that flows into a lot of these subsidies,
instead of paying the insurance companies, going direct to the
consumer and letting them take the money with them where
they choose.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
He's gotten a lot of criticism for that, but he's
on the right track because it would give the consumer
more control of the situation. Health savings accounts are part
of this, being able to buy your own insurance, making
it affordable, and you choose a marketplace idea more. It's
not quite that simple. That's a huge step in the
right direction.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Well, what are your odds?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Do you so? At the end of the day, there
are two options. Either you as an American, say no, no,
no government, just be in charge of my life. Doesn't
matter how much it costs, Just you be in charge
of my health care. Or there's the Donald Trump plan,
which is he believes that you, as an American, should
decide what is best for you, that you should spend
your money in a way that is well more responsible
(11:57):
than what the government does each and every day, and
he believes that prices will lower significantly if you do
it that way. I think many Americans have made it
clear they like the way the President is describing this
the amount of corruption that we are witnessing from those
in the Democratic Party and in government who are overspending
your tax tours and what are you actually getting in return?
(12:20):
Not a lot for your money. And that's where we
are today.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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