Gavin Newsom has trashed Donald Trump’s lavish New Year’s Eve set-up at Mar-a-Lago, as millions of Americans prepare to face significant price hikes on their healthcare, or lose it completely.
Responding to a social media clip from a New Year’s Eve party at the president’s Florida residence, which featured a caviar station and ice sculptures, the California governor wrote: “Don’t worry, 17 million Americans begin to get kicked off their health care this year.”
It comes after pandemic-era subsidies, put in place by the Biden administration, expired at midnight on December 31 – despite months of political back and forth between Republicans and Democrats.
Now, those who bought healthcare plans through federal and state health insurance marketplaces could see their monthly premiums skyrocket as much as $2,050 per month, according to research firm KFF.
Renewal of the subsidies had been a sticking point for the Democrats, who refused to continue funding the federal government unless the GOP agreed to do so, leading to the historic 41-day shutdown which ended in mid-November.
Both Democratic and Republican health care bills subsequently failed to pass the chamber in mid-December.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had signaled that Republicans in the House of Representatives would not vote to extend the enhanced tax credits for Obamacare, but claimed Democrats “don’t actually want to fix this problem.”
“Happy new year from Donald Trump and Mike Johnson,” Newsom wrote on X, after the deadline had officially passed.
Anywhere between 22 million and 24 million Americans receive their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace. In 2021, the Biden administration expanded tax credits for the marketplace, also known as Obamacare, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tax credits are believed to have driven four consecutive years of record-high enrollment in ACA plans.
A recent poll, conducted by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America, found that almost one-in-three Americans (29 percent) see “cost” as the most urgent health problem facing the U.S.
The poll also found that 23 percent of Americans believe the U.S. healthcare system is “in a state of crisis,” and almost half (47 percent) think it has “major problems.”
