Just in time for the midterms, Donald Trump has ordered $500 payments to ACA enrollees, ostensibly as payment for overcharging for the maintenance of Healthcare.gov? Really??
Who is actually eligible for these rebates bribes? According to a report at The Hill, no one enrolled via their state exchanges is eligible, and no one receiving subsidies is eligible. So who is left?
Well, as you may guess, mostly people in Texas and Florida who are paying the full ride because the enhanced subsidies expired. About 127,900 in Florida and 139,000 eligible in Texas.
I'm shocked, are you? Sounds like a tiny bribe to entice these folks into voting for the Republican, even if he is as much of a crook as the guy signing the bribe check.
Also not surprising: Most of those people are folks earning over 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or those voters who cast their vote for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Of course, if Republicans and Trump hadn't let the enhanced subsidies expire, they would have paid less for their insurance all year long and the difference would have been a boatload more than $500.
So basically, the blue states are subsidizing a bribe to red state voters. Are we cool with that?
