Obamacare: Why The "Affordable Care Act" Was Never Affordable
Obamacare massively increased health care costs — and the burden on government, employers, and every working American.
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NOTE: The main purpose of the Schumer Shutdown is to force the American taxpayer to borrow $1 Trillion — per year! — to give Medicaid to illegal aliens.
That message is getting through (thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous sombrero memes): the latest polling says 49% of Likely U.S. voters agree with a statement by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller: “Democrats shut down the government to give hundreds of billions of free healthcare to illegal aliens, including the millions of illegal aliens to whom [Joe] Biden [and the] Democrats gave illegal amnesty.” That includes 76% of Republicans, 44% of independents, and even 28% of Democrats.
It’s only going to get worse for Democrats from here. And no small part of the reason is that even Schumer and Jeffries say the shutdown is about healthcare, albeit the lesser yet vital issue of expiring COVID-era Obamacare subsidies.
In this essay, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shows why that’s also a losing issue: it makes painfully clear that the misnamed “Affordable Care Act” is not just unaffordable but unsustainable.
What is needed is real repeal and reform. Donald Trump fought hard to repeal the Obamacare boodoggle in his first term: he was only thwarted by Republican traitors like John McCain (who actually campaigned on Obamacare repeal before he voted with Democrats to keep it). This time, he has a very different Republican Party and team that knows what it’s doing.
Democrats are going to rue the day. — RDM
Why The “Affordable Care Act” Was Never Affordable
by Newt Gingrich
October 9, 2025
Democrats are rapidly digging themselves into a very deep hole.
Their battle cry during the Chuck Schumer shutdown is that they are determined to get another $400 billion of taxpayers’ money to subsidize a Biden administration, COVID-era health insurance subsidy — and they’ll hold the whole government hostage for it.
Their polling must show that on the surface this battle cry works. People care about health and healthcare. They see it as a moral issue in which helping people survive outweighs money.
Yet however unintentionally, the heart of the Democrats’ argument is that Obamacare — the Affordable Care Act — is simply not affordable.
In fact, the Affordable Care Act simply distorted an already unsustainable system. It pumped more money into insurance companies, so hospitals and insurance companies could charge more for medical services and coverage. The Affordable Care Act massively inflated health care costs — and the burden of those costs on government, employers, and every working American.
Just pay attention to who is buying the ads supporting the increased subsidies. It’s the insurance companies, big hospitals, and their powerful lobbyists. In effect, they are taking our tax dollars to buy ads that demand that we give them more tax dollars.
In the process, the insurance companies become steadily more dependent on government and more exposed to red tape and regulation. This makes our healthcare system less innovative, less competitive, less cost-conscious, and less affordable. All while the quality of care and service diminishes.
Republicans should take note: A successful governing conservatism does not make the American people pay for past policy mistakes. Millions of Americans have been drawn into a taxpayer-subsidized system which is unsustainable. Nancy Pelosi’s Congress, Harry Reid’s Senate, and Barack Obama’s White House made this mistake — not Republicans or American taxpayers.
The challenge for conservatives — after the government is reopened — is to find a more competitive, innovative, and affordable health system that doesn’t harm people who have been hoodwinked and victimized by Democrats’ terrible decisions.
There are effective reforms that improve care and coverage — and encourage less expensive, more competitive health delivery. These can create greater security and convenience for Americans — and fewer worries.
A Republican reform bill should deal head-on with the Democrats’ COVID-19 health insurance payoff disaster. It should protect Americans and combine a series of reforms which improve health outcomes and lower costs. It would be a powerful response to the Schumer shutdown propaganda campaign. If done properly, a Republican bill should increase access to quality health care — and reduce spending.
It would be a grand irony if the Schumer shutdown strategy ultimately led to a smaller government with a freer, more competitive, and more effective health system. It would be much better for Americans than the $400 billion Band-Aid Democrats are trying to slap on failing Obamacare.
Further, if the Republican reform bill included a two-to-four-year solution for the Democrats’ COVID health insurance subsidy, how could the Democrats vote against it? It has been the centerpiece of their propaganda campaign.
Kimberley Strassel wrote a powerful column in the Wall Street Journal this week. She asserted:
“When the smog clears from this first government shutdown in seven years, there will be ownership. Either a chastened Democratic Party will own the embarrassment of a foolhardy closure, or an outfoxed Republican Party will own the 15-year-old unreformed calamity known as ObamaCare…
“Just as important, they need to decide to begin the serious project of reforming ObamaCare, or give in and take possession of it. The moment for that decision looks to be now.”
Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have set up the right challenge for Republicans.
We must not — and will not — abandon the American people. We must not make them suffer because of the Democrats’ bad decisions in irresponsibly expanding big government health care subsidies and creating a deficit and debt-based health system. Its cost will crush the country over time.
We can develop a path to a better, affordable, more effective health system — and a reduced deficit.
President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Congress can turn away from the Democrats’ approach of more spending, bigger bureaucracy, and deeper deficits. With real reforms, they can better serve the American people — for a lot less cost.
This is the next great challenge for President Trump and Republicans — and I believe they will meet it.
— Newt Gingrich is the former Speaker of the House.
