Murray: “The Republican plan is like Squid Games for health care. You can’t afford quality health coverage? Here’s a coupon—spin the wheel and see if you make it through the year. If you lose—if you get cancer, if you get pregnant, or if you have any sort of medical emergency more expensive than a thousand bucks, you get buried in debt.”
Senator Murray has been sounding the alarm on the looming health care cost cliff and calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to extend the ACA tax credits well over a year—FULL TIMELINE HERE
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full floor speech; DOWNLOAD HERE***
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke forcefully on the Senate floor, calling on Republicans to support legislation to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits and prevent the massive premium hikes families are facing beginning January 1st because of Republicans’ refusal to act all year.
Murray laid out how, at this point—well over a month into Open Enrollment—it is simply too late to pass anything more complicated than a clean extension of the tax credits, which is what Democrats’ bill does. Republicans had all year to propose and pass reforms to the tax credits—they chose not to—and proposals requiring the implementation of major reforms to the tax credits less than three weeks before coverage begins January 1st are not serious and would not stop health care premiums from skyrocketing. The latest polling from KFF found one in four ACA marketplace enrollees said they are very likely to go uninsured if the ACA tax credits aren’t extended, and one in three enrollees said they are very likely to shop for a plan with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.
Tomorrow, alongside a vote on Democrats’ legislation that would provide a clean, three-year extension of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, the Senate will also vote on a Crapo-Cassidy proposal that would kill the ACA enhanced premium tax credits—doing nothing to stop premiums from spiking. The Crapo-Cassidy bill also includes extreme new anti-abortion restrictions, including blocking ACA Marketplace plans that provide abortion coverage from receiving cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments—which would effectively force them out of the marketplace and make it even more difficult for people to get this essential care when they need it.
Open enrollment began on November 1st—and ends on Monday, December 15 for coverage effective January 1 (for coverage effective February 1, open enrollment ends on January 15). Nationwide, 22 million Americans are seeing their health care costs skyrocket because of Republican inaction—premiums are more than doubling on average for people who buy health coverage on the exchanges, and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health insurance coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on the Senate floor today, are below:
“Thank you, M. President. Right now, right now, families are trying to get health coverage for next year, a few weeks away. And they are coming face-to-face with the MAGA health care hike.
“That’s not some theory, or talking point. That is the stone-cold reality.
“Just talk to folks back home and they will tell you. Premiums are doubling, on average, for people losing the ACA enhanced premium tax credits. In some cases, they are tripling, or quadrupling—or even worse.
“I’ve heard from seniors who will see their premium jump more than a thousand dollars a month. I’ve heard from a family in Washington state whose premium will jump two thousand dollars a month.
“A new KFF poll found one in four people will just go without health coverage if their premium doubles—again, that’s the average increase families are facing because of Republican inaction. That’s the reality that we are staring down this very moment.
“This is hitting seniors, who are too young for Medicare but can’t afford to roll the dice on their health. This is hitting small businesses, who rely on the exchanges and tax credits to get coverage for themselves and their employees. It’s hitting farmers, many of whom are covered on the exchanges.
“And I have to say, the reason I call this the MAGA health care hike? Is because it is going to hit MAGA states the hardest. Even as Trump calls affordability a ‘scam!’
“The ten states where premiums are jumping by the highest percentage? All Republican states. Every single one.
“The vast majority of these dollars go to Republican states. And yet, the vast majority of my Republican colleagues couldn’t be bothered when it came to saving the health tax credits, and stopping folks back home from losing coverage.
“Not only are most Republicans not serious about stopping the MAGA health care hike—many of them are cheering it on!
“You don’t have to take my word for it. Just look at what Republican leaders said about saving the health care tax credits earlier this year.
“Republican leaders said, and I quote: nothing. Nothing! Or just look at the only health care plan Republicans ever rallied around: cutting a trillion dollars from health care. Or just listen to Speaker Johnson argue Republicans ‘strengthened’ health care—by making the biggest cut in Medicaid in history!
“That’s like saying you strengthened a ship by throwing the passengers overboard! That is the one thing they all agree on. That is the one health policy they are all proud of.
“Do Republicans want an award for all the hospitals that are now going to shutter? Do they want a thank you card from all the families that get priced out of their health coverage?
“And another clear sign Republicans are not serious about health care: their message has been all over the place. Everywhere from hypocritical, to nonsensical, to straight-up lies.
“One of the first Republican talking points we saw was the outright lie that all this money is for illegal immigrants. Their latest spin is just as ridiculous.
“Because now Republicans, the same party that proudly brought you the biggest billionaire tax giveaway in the history of our country, the same Republicans who have never met a corporate CEO they didn’t want to shower with tax cuts, are scandalized to learn health insurance is provided by health insurance companies. That’s pretty darn rich.
“When Republicans were just giving money away this summer—literally a billionaire free-for-all—it was so important that they cut health care. But when Democrats want to help families buy health coverage—that is a bridge too far!
“If Republicans, the party of Trump and Elon, want to play ‘who is buddies with billionaires,’ go ahead. Make my day.
“Remember, Republicans made tax breaks for billionaires permanent. Permanent! They exploded the national debt by trillions to do it. They cut health care to do that! And they pretended it cost zero dollars by using ridiculous, make-believe budget gimmicks.
“But saving health care for a few years is too expensive?
“Republicans don’t see anything outrageous about Trump shoveling billions of dollars at Argentina. They have no objection with a new private jet for Secretary Noem, or bulldozing the White House for Trump’s latest gold-plated vanity project.
“But they can’t imagine making sure their own constituents have health care?
“And please, when Republicans try and pretend it’s unthinkable we want to do this for three years, don’t forget they already voted down doing it for one year.
“In fact, one Republican actually called it, ‘political terrorism.’ Give me a break.
“Trump can post a video where he bombs protesters with feces. He can repost someone calling to hang Democrats. But when Democrats want to save health care for working families, that is ‘political terrorism.’ M. President.
“And let’s not forget one of the most incredible Republican excuses for letting premiums double—they never wanted to lower health care costs with these tax credits in the first place!
“They say, ‘Look, Democrats passed these tax credits without a single Republican vote.’ Well, you bet we did! And that really does show the difference in priorities, doesn’t it?
“When Democrats were in power, we passed the strongest, longest tax credit we had the votes for to help working families get health care. Because Democrats actually think it’s a problem that millions of people are going to lose coverage.
“But Republicans think the real problem is too many people were able to get coverage in the first place. They are even doubling down on that in their new, half-baked proposal to pretend they have some kind of health care agenda.
“Just look at the ideas that Republicans are putting forward.
“The Republican health care plan is to bring back—back—the bad old days of ‘high risk pools’—when pre-existing conditions weren’t protected, and a cancer diagnosis meant you couldn’t get health coverage.
“The Republicans health care plan is more junk health plans that bury patients in debt when they have an accident, or they get sick.
“The Republican plan is finding new ways to attack access to abortion and block women from getting the care they need.
“The Republican health care plan is ‘just let mom shop around for health care’—as if moms didn’t have enough to worry about. And as if shopping is even an option when you need urgent care, or specialty care that’s hard to find, or you only have one hospital for miles.
“And—here’s a doozy—the health care plan Republicans put forward this week does not even bring down premiums—not a single cent!
“That’s right—their plan does nothing about skyrocketing premiums. So if your premium is too high for you to afford coverage in the first place, the Republican plan for you is ‘tough luck.’
“They want to replace tax credits that actually make sure people can enroll in a quality health plan, with a mere pittance that you can only get if you’re poor enough to qualify, but still make enough to afford health coverage in the first place. And only if you buy the lowest quality plan, even if that’s not what you want.
“Only then are Republicans offering you a meager $83 or $125 dollars a month which comes, by the way, nowhere close to covering your deductible, and does nothing to keep families out-of-pocket health care costs from going through the roof.
“Instead of reducing the uninsured rate or getting people quality coverage, Republicans are saying to you, ‘what if we only gave money to people who can afford health coverage, instead of supporting those who cannot, and what if we spent that money pushing people toward the worst coverage that leaves them on the hook for huge deductibles?’
“Instead of bringing premiums down, Republicans are saying, ‘What if we spend this same funding in a way that doesn’t lower premiums at all—but just leaves them sky high?’ And even ends up with them soaring for patients with pre-existing conditions by driving younger, healthier people into lower quality plans or out of the market entirely.
“The Republican plan is like Squid Games for health care.
“You can’t afford quality health coverage? Here’s a coupon—spin the wheel and see if you make it through the year. If you lose—if you get cancer, if you get pregnant, or if you have any sort of medical emergency more expensive than a thousand bucks, you get buried in debt.
“And win or lose, you are going to have to play the same, twisted game again, year after year, for the rest of your life. And one year, you are going to lose. Because we all get sick eventually. We all get older eventually.
“What Republicans have put forward is not a health care plan—it’s a sick joke. I can hardly believe they can say it with a straight face.
“And speaking of jokes, are Republicans going to stand up this newfangled disaster before Open Enrollment begins? Well, wait, guess what—it’s too late for that. This is not just out of touch with families, it is out of touch with reality.
“And even if these plans were not a joke, there’s scarcely time left to do something half as complicated.
“That’s the kicker, M. President. If Republicans were serious about reforming the tax credits, the time to do that was before we were a month into Open Enrollment.
“Democrats were at the table all year. Republicans were nowhere to be found.
“The truth is, if Republicans actually wanted to reform the tax credits, they could have done that without Democrats! They could have done that, actually, in their Big Ugly Bill! They could have extended those ACA tax credits completely on their own terms if that was important to them.
“But they did not. Because they did not care. And when Democrats insisted, and insisted, and insisted, ‘Republicans, just come to the table,’ they chose to shut down the government rather than talk about health care.
“But now, when rates have already been set, and families have days to get coverage for January, a few weeks away, Republicans are not just trying to pretend they care about stopping the MAGA health care hike. They are now trying to pretend it is realistic to negotiate major changes and new programs in time for January 1st.
“What are they talking about?
“Forget how long negotiations take, even if we passed that bill today, there is not time to implement anything more complicated than a clean extension.
“Now, I am always at the table to talk about how we can save health care. I am happy to sit down next year and negotiate serious bipartisan reforms for the 2027 season.
“But the key word here is serious. It is not serious for Republicans to act like they care about health care now, when they were silent on this during their tax-cutting bonanza.
“It is not serious for Republicans to act like there is time for major negotiations and reforms now—when we are over halfway through open enrollment.
“And it is not serious for Republicans to act like they just want simple tweaks—when they are actually demanding new abortion coverage bans they know are a nonstarter.
“M. President, let me close with this. If Republicans truly want to have a serious, bipartisan conversation about health care, we can do that. Democrats are happy to do that. But there is a fire burning right now, and a lot of people are about to get burned if we don’t put it out.
“So the first step has to be: passing the bill Democrats have put forward, extending the tax credits, and saving health care for millions of families in the country.
“We could have talked about reforms earlier. And once we do this, we can still talk about reforms later. But right now, we have to put this fire out. And we have a bill that does that.
“Now, I am hoping, against hope and against history, that reason wins out and Republicans join us to pass this bill.
“But I will say, if Republicans refuse to do the right thing, the thing their own constituents are begging all of us to do, they should know: Democrats are not going to walk away from this fight.
“I am going to continue holding Republicans accountable. And more importantly, the American people are going to hold Republicans accountable too, with their voices and their votes.
“Democrats will also keep sharing a vision for how we do rebuild a stronger health care system after this Republican wreckage.
“Because as much as we want to save these health tax credits, I think everyone knows, that is a starting point. It is a bare minimum.
“We still need universal health care in America. We have needed it for a very long time. It is what I have always been fighting for.
“And, whatever happens in the next few days, I am going to keep pushing for reforms that make high-quality health care that’s actually affordable a reality for every American.”
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