How the Shutdown Became a Health Care Showdown
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Alex Brill.
Kevin Price visited with Alex Brill from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI.org).
The political dynamics surrounding the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits have fundamentally shifted the healthcare debate. Democrats, having historically struggled to secure comprehensive subsidized healthcare, are now drawing a resolute hard line on extending these popular provisions, making it a non-negotiable priority in current budget discussions. For the party, this is the crucial and perhaps final chance to save and cement government-subsidized healthcare—a decades-long progressive goal. They recognize that, having delivered expanded coverage to 24 million Americans, blinking now means sacrificing historic gains, and they are not expected to compromise.
Meanwhile, the Republican opposition faces a significant political conundrum. The very states most vulnerable to massive premium spikes and coverage loss if the subsidies expire are GOP strongholds, particularly large Southern states like Florida, Texas, and Georgia. These states, which often rejected Medicaid expansion, rely disproportionately on the federal assistance. With premiums set to more than double on average if Congress fails to act, this deep red-state reliance on the subsidies means the GOP risks incurring major political blowback from their own base, forcing them to seriously rethink their long-held stance on cutting subsidized coverage. The leverage is now clearly with the Democrats.
According to the American Enterprise Institute, “Alex Brill is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies the impact of tax policy on the US economy as well as the fiscal, economic, and political consequences of tax, budget, health care, retirement security, and trade policies. He is the editor of Carbon Tax Policy: A Conservative Dialogue on Pro-Growth Opportunities. Before joining AEI, Brill served as the policy director and chief economist of the House Ways and Means Committee. Previously, he served on the staff of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He has served on the staff of the President’s Fiscal Commission (Simpson-Bowles) and the Republican Platform Committee (2008). He is also the founder and CEO of the economic consulting firm Matrix Global Advisors (MGA). Brill has an MA in mathematical finance from Boston University and a BA in economics from Tufts University.”
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