An unaffordable and unacceptable deadline
Trump and Republicans in Congress have created one crisis after another. This time, they've set our country barreling toward a health care calamity.
While the trillion-dollar blow to Medicaid earlier this year is rightfully getting most of the coverage, another lesser-known piece of the Republican budget bill will raise health insurance premiums for millions of Americans, unless Republicans work with us to stop it.
Unless Republicans decide to put partisan politics aside, this month, millions of families will get a letter from their insurance company notifying them that their premiums are going up. In some cases, premiums will double, or even triple.
That's hundreds – and in some cases thousands – of dollars per month that families were counting on to buy groceries, pay their rent or mortgage, or make a car payment.
That might not mean much to Trump's harem of billionaires, but for nurses, teachers, and firefighters, that can mean the difference between being able to cover rent and groceries for the month.
Every time Republicans could have acted to stop this, they instead chose to block Democratic bills and double down to raise premium costs. And now they've forced a government shutdown to try and keep these premium increases in place.
The clock is ticking on these cost increases. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House. I'm ready and willing to work with anyone who wants to keep costs down and reopen the government. But I will not support a Republican bill that raises costs and kicks millions of people off their health care.
I'm not going to stop doing what I can to bring Republicans to the negotiating table to keep costs down.
We have to raise our voices – and loudly – if we want any chance of spurring action.
