“Largely, when you talk about SNAP, you’re talking about largely Democrats.”President Donald Trump
Two things are both true:
-- Democrats caved.
-- It was the right outcome. Relax.
First, let's acknowledge reality: The American people elected Donald Trump president, and his loyal allies control the House, Senate, and probably the Supreme Court. Republicans are in charge of the government. Let's also acknowledge that Trump uses presidential power cruelly, to instill fear and dread, which enhances his power.
Trump took political hostages. He abruptly cancelled infrastructure projects in blue states, doing it with such open partisanship that it drew grumbling from Republican senators. But his big weapon was stopping the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Trump's brand was established by saying "You're fired!" to contestants on his show. Audiences liked it. It showed he was decisive and confident. He is still saying, "You're fired!" in a variety of ways.
SNAP beneficiaries are a vulnerable target, and well-chosen by Trump to exploit the different orientations of Democrats and the MAGA-dominated GOP. Sixty-seven percent of SNAP families have children. Seventy-nine percent of SNAP families have either a child or an elderly or disabled person. The image and idea of SNAP beneficiaries is asymmetrical between the political parties. The Republican-Fox News notion of SNAP users is President Reagan's Black "welfare queen" with multiple benefit streams, an urban drug addict, or a lazy and unmotivated 400-pound man playing video games instead of working. Trump is exercising tough love. Democrats see it differently, as Trump intentionally hurting the weakest and most vulnerable. Democrats paid a moral and political price for holding out. Children would suffer.
A few Democrats broke ranks to feed the children and reopen the government. Those are good reasons.
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| This idea is out there in the liberal media. I disagree. |
The outcome is ideal for Democrats. It appears that Trump will succeed in slashing the subsidies for health insurance bought through the ACA exchanges. People are starting to experience the price shock. Affordability is a top-of-mind issue, especially after Zohran Mamdani won election in New York City on that theme. This morning I watched Trump on Laura Ingraham's Fox show, asserting that prices were down, affordability under his presidency is great and getting better, and that Democrats and the media are in cahoots saying that prices are high, when they are not. This is going to be a hard sell for Trump.
A reader of this blog, age 60, with a Moda health insurance gold plan (necessary because she has a chronic asthma problem) told me her cost will jump from $1,150 to $1,700 a month in January. Another reader, a family with a husband, wife, and 20-year-old child, just received a quote for insurance next year, rising from $2,400 to $3,100 a month.
I learned from my 30-year career as a financial advisor that people experience loss at five times the intensity that they experience gains. Americans will experience the loss of the insurance benefit as unjust and morally wrong. Families arrange budgets around set points, and Trump will have taken away something that was theirs.
The controversy over the Democratic "cave" is not all bad. It helps Democrats get the message out about what happened, and it solidifies the idea that the high prices are the doing of Republicans. Low-information voters might get the polarity and partisanship straight: Democrats tried and failed to stop Republicans from taking away the health insurance exchange benefit that had previously been theirs.
As people drop their health insurance, more people will delay or avoid treatment. People will die. Rural hospitals will close. This will disproportionately affect red states and red congressional districts. I live in one.
There is a message inside that realization of what just happened. It is that Republicans made expensive insurance even more expensive to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Trump and Republicans cannot be trusted with power.
POST PUBLICATION UPDATE:
A Trump-supporting reader sent a comment. It reflects a widespread Republican attitude toward SNAP beneficiaries. This attitude gives Trump political room to cut SNAP without triggering serious pushback from his base:
How many illegal aliens get SNAP? How many young, able-bodied adults get SNAP. I see lots of illegals with SNAP cards, and I see a lot of fat young adults with SNAP cards and shopping carts full of soda pop. The system is being abused. Aside from SNAP, how many children get fed at school? Hunger is not a problem. If it is, then you have a problem with ACCESS.
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How many illegal aliens get SNAP? How many young, able-bodied adults get SNAP. I see lots of illegals with SNAP cards, and I see a lot of fat young adults with SNAP cards and shopping carts full of soda pop. The system is being abused. Aside from SNAP, how many children get fed at school? Hunger is not a problem. If it is, then you have a problem with ACCESS.
ReplyDeleteYou can blame Obamacare for outrageous insurance premium costs. They were affordable until Obama destroyed the health care industry. Free insurance for the poor ensured that the poor were going to abuse the hell out of the system. Free abortions and sex changes for everyone! The average person can't even afford health insurance now, since it cost more than a house payment.
Trump didn't create Obamacare, and Trump didn't cause 30% inflation that made food prices unaffordable. Democrats tried to give a free ride to every bum in the world, and it destroyed the system.
What a pity that you have such an aversion to facts.
DeleteImagine a world in which anonymous was in charge? Oh wait, we do with Trump in charge.
ReplyDeleteIn simple terms, some people are getting SNAP benefits who should not be.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ACA (or as some say, ObamaCare), recall how we got here.
The Obama administration create the ACA with a purely Democratic vote by Congress.
The Democrats also created the subsidies during the Pandemic.
The Democrats also set those subsidies to expire at the end of this year.
All without any votes by Republicans.
Healthcare costs have increased since the ACA was written into law. They have not decreased. Healthcare companies have been rewarded well. People needing healthcare have been paying more, and more since the ACA was signed into law.
The main sticking point during the shutdown is that the Democrats wanted those subsidies to continue. The Republicans did not want em extended.
Why hasn't the ACA reduced the cost of healthcare?
ALL other industrial Western countries have universal healthcare. Big Parma and Big Health Insurance are against killing their golden goose. Truman tried, at the end of his term, to enact universal health care, but subsequent attempts, let's be clear, at health insurance reform have been blocked. In terms of health outcomes and longevity, we rank among the third-world nations. Look it up!
DeleteI am becoming a cynical progressive. From my observation, the white liberal employed democrats seemed to be be very patient with the government shutdown and the suspension of snap benefits. Even the increase in health insurance premiums did not agitate them too much. But the arbitrary cut backs of airline flights? Wow!! Within a week the shut down is over. The self-centered narcissistic arrogance of the upper white middle class shone through yet again.
ReplyDelete96% of SNAP recipients are citizens, according to Trump's own Department of Ag. Unauthorized immigrants aren't eligible. If you have a green card you have to wait 5 years.
ReplyDeleteHealth care costs have increased because the mechanisms that would have kept costs down were removed at the request of republicans in order to get the legislation passed. The democrats kept adjusting the bill to please the republicans but they still didn't vote for it. In the original plan, prescription and other benefits would have been able to be negotiated. Another provision that was removed was the incentive for people to buy into the program in the first place. The penalty for not having insurance was removed after being ruled illegal by the supreme court. So now, those of us who have insurance pay for the care of those who do not. I believe the only way to reign in the cost of medical care is a single payer, medicare for all program. As long as insurers and the corporations that "own" the providers are making millions of dollars, nothing is going to change.
ReplyDeleteSo you did confirm what I stated: Democrats approved the ACA plan; Republicans did not vote for any of the variations that you suggested were included in the legislation that was passed.
DeleteYou asked why the cost of health care has not gone down since the enactment of the ACA and I stated my opinion.
DeleteExtending the ACA benefits is a nice sentiment, but I hope nobody imagines that it would significantly improve our ailing system. The U.S. spends far more per capita on healthcare than any other G7 nation, yet it has the worst outcomes. Not only is health care too expensive; so is becoming a physician, so there’s a doctor shortage. Unfortunately, Politicians who propose a real fix such as Bernie Sanders, Alex Padilla and Pramila Jayapal are mocked and derided by reactionaries on both sides of the aisle. There’s no fixing stupid.
ReplyDeleteI thought the battle waged by the Tea Party was over, but clearly, we’re back at the barricades. For the life of me, I cannot understand why helping the sick, the injured, and mothers with children achieve better health outcomes is so objectionable to "conservatives." Where's your humanity?
ReplyDeleteI have a cousin up in Boston who just got on the SNAP program. He lives on Social Security. He has no savings account and drives a beat up 10 year old car. SS is his only source of income. He's 79 years old and walks with a cane. No chance of working. So, how much does SNAP give him? The answer is $23 per month. That's it. What can you buy for $23 that lasts you for a month? Salad dressing?
ReplyDelete