NEW: Republicans demand tougher abortion restrictions to extend Obamacare funds

[In It to Win It]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-demand-tougher-abortion-restrictions-extend-obamacare-fund-rcna243206

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans say they’re open to extending a pot of Affordable Care Act funds that will expire at the end of the year — but only if Democrats acquiesce to stricter abortion restrictions on insurance plans.

The demand presents a significant hurdle to reaching a bipartisan deal to extend ACA funding designed to avoid major premium hikes next year for more than 20 million Americans, as Democrats are adamant that existing abortion guardrails under Obamacare are sufficient.

If the funds are not extended by the end of the year, some people insured under Obamacare could see their bills rise by thousands of dollars per month, raising concerns that millions will choose to go uninsured.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there will be a negotiation about an extension after the government reopens. He said one condition will be stricter rules pertaining to the Hyde amendment, which bars federal funding from being used for abortion.

NEW: Republicans demand tougher abortion restrictions to extend Obamacare funds

This demand spans Senate leadership to Finance Cmte to proponents of ACA money.

Dems say hell no, current Hyde protections suffice.

"It's a nonstarter," Shaheen tells me.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) 2025-11-11T18:32:20.921Z

[AZJonnie]

1. "It's a nonstarter," Shaheen tells me

Seems Shaheen is vying to become our side's version of Susan Collins

[notinkansas]

4. Yeah right.

She's not running again. So ........

[Bettie]

19. So, she and several others will be

signing on to a full ban on women's reproductive care in the next day or two?

That's kind of what it sounds like.

[AZJonnie]

22. If recent past is prologue, that would unfortunately seem like reasonable estimation

of what is about to come

[Bettie]

23. Wonder if it will be the same group

or if they will choose someone else to take this one. Maybe there are volunteers or a lottery system....

[Traildogbob]

2. So the deal

With Satan is coming to light. Who could have foresaw this? I am sure much more to come in the way of fucking all us commoners, not the royal families up top.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. En ough is enough

We opened up your goddamn crooked government so people wouldn't starve, NO MORE CAVING!!!!!

[lapfog_1]

14. but but but... Lawrence ( and plenty of posters here )

told me "we won... we didn't cave"

https://mlafqlkvsrtu.i.optimole.com/w:352/h:264/q:mauto/ig:avif/

Always in a tight spot, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[Attilatheblond]

5. Carrot & stick operation. Not surprised one bit

The carrot will keep being moved until we end up slaves to Big Insurance and Facist Governance. The carrot will be a rotten dehydrated 'treat' before we ever get a bite.

[EdmondDantes_]

15. What is big insurance?

You do realize that the government has been picking up the subsidies so if people don't renew their insurance because the premiums are cut, the insurance companies aren't getting that? And insurance rates are going up because we're using more healthcare and more pharmaceuticals. Insurance companies are capped and required to spend 80 or 85% on medical care (depending on if large or small group) with the rest for overhead and profit where applicable. Rates are rising because costs are rising. It's not a conspiracy.

[Jilly_in_VA]

17. Insurance itself is a conspiracy

I would rather pay MORE TAXES and GET SOMETHING FOR THEM than have my taxes go to fucking billionaires!!!!!! If that makes me a socialist, then so be it!!!!

[Bettie]

20. I'll sit next to you in

Socialist Time Out. We'll have fun on the bench of shame.

[Attilatheblond]

26. I'm on that bench too!

Privatizing what should be done communally will ALWAYS cost more that what the services actually cost. Those CEOs and corporate board members don't dictate conditions of service for free, and they do not settle for the going rate of the professionals who provide actual medical care.

[Attilatheblond]

25. ACA is NOT just subsidies, it also puts limits on insurance company profits and stops them from denying coverage

And since BIG INSURANCE (meaning the entire industry) donates lavishly to political candidates and runs a boatload of ads during Medicare open season, they are making enough money and want to make more. The partnership between and industry and the pols who can make that industry more profitable is not something done for the people, but just for money. If it oinks like a pig and smells like pig crap, it ain't corporate benevolence. Maybe we won't call it a conspiracy, a word I did NOT use, but rather a team effort to profit at the expense of the consumer. They don't pay pols gobs of money just for fun.

Edited to add: Part of the insurance premiums we pay go for stock market investments the companies make. They do not just hold all the money in a drawer for payouts, they invest. An item that costs them that you missed is when their investments do not pay off as hoped. As our economy sinks, and it is, their stock investments will lose value too. Guess where they will make up the loss. Check your mail for premium increases; they won't all be based on actual cost of providing care.

[themaguffin]

6. GOP has endless poison pills in their pantry

[dweller]

7. You passed on negotiating ACA during the CR standoff

The bill to be introduced in Dec is the Democrat’s bill .

What part of the BBB or the CR did you allow negotiations ?


✌🏻

[get the red out]

8. What elsed can they do

Execute pregnant women to ensure they are too dead to get an abortion?

[sarisataka]

9. The problem with appeasement

as soon as you appease them , they want something else

The difference is , now we don't have any leverage

[Hugin]

10. Abortion is what it's been about all along. n/t

[Brenda]

11. Hey, EVERY SINGLE DEM!

The answer is absofuckinglutely NO.

[hamsterjill]

12. I was just posting about that on another thread.

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=417413

My post appended here for ease of reference:



I'm seeing on social media that Democrats agreed to include a provision for a national abortion ban

Any truth to that? Because somehow, it wouldn't surprise me at this point.

The relevance would be whether ACA coverage included abortion or after care of an abortion that didn't go well. The "pro-lifers" would gladly watch a woman suffer and die if she had gone through an abortion and needed medical care.

[-misanthroptimist]

13. Really?

If the funds are not extended by the end of the year, some people insured under Obamacare could see their bills rise by thousands of dollars per month, raising concerns that millions will choose to go uninsured.

Choose? Choose?! What percentage of Americans can afford an increase of thousands per month? The overwhelming majority simply can't afford. They are not choosing.

Let's face facts. The for-profit healthcare system is a complete and utter failure.

Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege for the well-to-do.

[leftstreet]

16. +1

The framing is already horrible

[SamuelTheThird]

18. Welp, Dems caved and so expect more of this

It will reach a point where the only non-violent solution is a national strike, which would cause tremendous pain to most people.

[lark]

21. Shaheen, no one believes a word you say. Repugs were never going to pass this and she knew it damn well.

Any protestations from the 8 Dems with lies about Repugs pinky swore to us and we trust them, just make me sick.

[karynnj]

24. I remember that to pass, ACA had to consider the Hyde rules

If I remember, they needed to assert that the subsidy would not pay the portion of the bill that covered abortion costs except when medically needed.

I never bought an ACA plan, so I don't know what is covered and how it is paid for.

As the Hyde Act precludes the government paying for abortion, I what changes they want.

[Bayard]

27. And the blackmail continues.....

Now that they know Dems will, "Negotiate."

[Emile]

28. So people paying out of pocket for healthcare is restricted

That sounds like big government control.