Will Congress extend Obamacare subsidies before their expiration? Ryan Schmelz is live

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now, Ryan smells in a battle over the
healthcare is Congress is going to extend these Obamacare subsidies
before the end of the year before they expire, Ryan, Well,
come in. It seemed to be the big issue during
the government shutdown. The Democrats wanted that, you know, to
be covered and taken care of. They weren't going to
open up the government, and Republicans said, we'll talk about it,
but you're really panalizing the American people by holding him

(00:23):
hostage with a situation. So the government's back open. Where
are we on this Obamacare subsidy issue.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, it looks like this is going to continue for
at least the next couple of weeks until the program
ultimately expires or it's sort's prevented from expiring in some capacity.
So this is going to be a debate that happens
over the next couple of weeks. There's a couple of
plans being floated. But if there's anything out there that
can actually get the votes to pass, we don't know
that yet.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, what are you hearing from different folks in Congress,
Because you know, Mike Johnson, our speaker, said look, we
will discuss it, and now are they discussed, Are they
open to it or they just pushed and try and
drag it out to the end of the year and
then it's over. Will it be discussed in January if
it does expire? I mean, what seems to be the

(01:08):
next move. As far as the discussions that were promised
from the Republicans, well.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
They promised for discussions, I mean, they promised agreements, and
Speaker Johnson said that he would have discussions. I don't
know if any discussions that are happening amongst leadership on
both sides right now, but there are, you know, some
more rank and file discussions. There's a bill that would
extend the program for two years and then allow uh,
you know, and have some of those reforms that have

(01:33):
been talked about. King Jeffries says that he's open to that.
So whether not Speaker Johnson's going to be open to
that is still a mystery. There's also a couple of
bills that have been proposed on the Senate side that
would kind of reform the program and and maybe even
change it up and do a flexible spending account as
opposed to a as opposed to you know, the tax

(01:55):
credits that we're seeing right now. But we're keep in mind,
I mean, any one of these bills is going to
need six Steve votes in the Senate, and it's also
going to need the blessing of President Trump. So whether
or not we found that plan yet, it doesn't look
like it's out there yet.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was just going to say, it seems like a
long shot that's going to stay in its current state
and smoothly get approved here in the next week or two.
This thing seems to me that it's going to be
blown up. Redone. Let's start from scratch, back to square
one on what we're going to do with the subsidies,
if there even are going to be any more Obamacare subsidies.
Will Obamacare as we know and you know I have

(02:31):
to deal with in a lot of cases, is it
going away completely? Is a new healthcare program for the
American people coming from the government going to be redone?
From a ground up on this, I mean, where do
you think we'll end up, you know, with your crystal
ball there on getting something going here, because it does
not sound like the current state of affairs has a chance,

(02:52):
you know, of even continuing one more minute.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I mean that's a good question. I wish I
had the crystal wall to tell you what that solution wasts.
But I think the reality is that if Democrats want
this program extended, they're going to have to at least
consider some type of reforms to this, because either a
clean extension for three years, which is what they actually
are proposing on the House side, or just a clean
extension for or I mean, Democrats wanted it their way,

(03:16):
they would get a permanent extension, but there's no way
Republicans will agree to that because they're going to need
to at least put in some type of reform to
the program if they want any Republican votes.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, it seems to me that this is not going
anywhere with the current state of affairs and anything that
Democrats are bringing up, or it's not going to get approved.
I just don't see it happening. I think we're going
to be discussing this whole thing well into the first
quarter of next year as to what we're going to
do as far as a replacement plan for this, if
in fact there'll even be one. So I appreciate the update, Ryan,

(03:46):
Thank you so much, Buddy,