GOP Says Dems Can Extend Americans’ Health Insurance…If They Also Further Restrict Abortion 

In the checkers board that is our government (no one here’s playing chess), we have Democrats who enjoy pretending to put up a fight, only to cave at the first whiff of a breeze, and we have Republicans who will, without fail, find a way to make everything about banning abortion.

The House reconvenes today, November 12, to vote on the bill to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history. On Sunday night, seven Democrats and one Independent broke ranks to vote with Republicans on the spending bill. But this bill does not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies (aka Obamacare subsidies)—the thing Democrats have been refusing to concede on. It only includes a promise from Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) that if Dems bring forth an extension bill, they’ll have a vote in December. If the Obamacare subsidies are not extended, they’ll expire by year’s end, sending monthly health insurance costs soaring for millions of Americans.

Now, the GOP is saying, sure, they’ll agree to extend the subsidies…but only if Democrats let them further restrict abortion. Because of course they are. I love when the “states’ rights” crowd proves they actually don’t give a fuck.

“That’s what we’re going to negotiate,” Thune told reporters on Sunday. “A one-year extension along the lines of what [Democrats] are suggesting, and without Hyde protections—there’s just not even, doesn’t even get close.”

The Hyde Amendment—an outdated, puritanical relic that has been restricting reproductive rights since 1976—prohibits any federal funding from being used for abortion, and this applies to the ACA. However, states can allow enrollees to pay a surcharge to include abortion coverage in their plans, according to NBC News. This creates a separate revenue stream, ensuring that federal funds still don’t cover abortion care.

Currently, 25 states ban all abortion coverage through the ACA marketplace, while some offer it through the surcharge workaround, and others leave it up to insurers.

“What critics of the current policy are arguing is they want Hyde plus-plus,” Katie Keith, a Georgetown Law professor and founding director of its Center for Health Policy and the Law, told NBC News. “This goes far beyond what Hyde requires. It’s not about federal funds flowing toward the care, it’s about federal funds flowing toward coverage, even if it’s financed separately. … They want to knock out abortion coverage fully.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who’s retiring next year and just threw Americans under the bus to vote with Republicans, told reporters this wasn’t happening. “It’s a nonstarter,” she said. “It’s not an issue. We already dealt with that issue.”

However, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said Democrats won’t get any type of extension unless they agree to more abortion restrictions. “That’s the message that we shared with a lot of our Democratic colleagues is you can’t do it under your existing framework, and you’re never going to get any Republican votes,” he said. “Because we believe strongly taxpayer dollars should not go to fund abortions.”

Again: the Hyde Amendment already ensures taxpayer dollars don’t go towards abortion care. Yet Republicans are perfectly willing to let millions lose their health insurance because some states dared to flex their so-called “states’ rights” and use capitalism to actually help Americans access abortion care.

Our “leaders” aren’t even playing checkers; they’re setting the pieces on fire and throwing them at us.

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