U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga
Seventeen Republican members of the U.S. House joined Democrats Thursday to help pass legislation extending health care subsidies that lapsed at the end of last year. None were from Michigan.
All seven Michigan Republicans voted against restoring the expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years. All six Michigan Democrats voted to pass the bill, which must now go before the Senate, where it is expected to face a difficult path to passage.
Legislators who favor the extension argue that ending the subsidies would make health insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans and leave many without coverage.
Republicans argue that the program is riddled with fraud.
Democrats counter that the fraud is minimal and that Republicans, including President Trump, have failed to propose a better alternative, instead leaving those who can least afford it without insurance.
"Here's the thing: We have not rooted out the waste, fraud and abuse, which we are seeing in spades ― where you've got millions of people that have never made a claim and don't even know that they have been signed up for this," U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Holland Republican, tells the Detroit News.
"This rush to just throw money at a problem without fixing the root cause of the problem is just foolish, in my mind."
Rep. John James
On X, Republican Congressman John James, who is running for governor, explained his opposition to the legislation, calling it "tax-funded FRAUD."
"Democrats are flailing, selling your health & kids’ futures by extending COVID-era Obamacare handouts to billion-dollar insurers — for just 7% of Americans!" James said.
Detroit Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib wrote on X before the House vote:
"Today we will force a vote in the House, against the will of Trump and Republican leadership, on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. The American people want health care. Not a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget."
She pointed out, according to The News, that Republicans in Congress for the past decade have talked about repealing the Affordable Care Act but have done nothing.
It's "cruel," she said, for GOP lawmakers now to make it harder for their constituents to get tax credits to blunt the high cost of health care.
Every program, from Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid and unemployment, have had issues with fraud.
