Quote from North Dakota's Republican insurance commissioner:
"The window is rapidly closing," says Jon Godfread, North Dakota's insurance commissioner. He says the enhanced subsidies need to be extended before open enrollment starts Nov. 1. "Let's do this now."
If lawmakers miss that deadline, he says, "it's going to be really, really challenging to go back [to consumers] and say, 'OK, now we fixed it, please come back and shop at this market that you were priced out of.' I just don't believe consumers are going to do that."
Insurance honchos in Red and Blue states all want it done Godfread insists this issue is not about partisan politics. He himself is an elected Republican, and he is also president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a membership organization of state insurance regulators across the country. "Red state, blue state, appointed, elected — we have unanimous approval supporting these tax credits," he says.
The insurance commissioners have been warning lawmakers about this impending problem for months. "Since January, to be honest — we've sent four different letters," he says. He also spent the whole month of May in Washington D.C. meeting with members of Congress and explaining how an expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits will hit consumers very hard — he calls it a "double hit."
Contrary to the thread's misleading title, this issue was picked by the Democrats because it is popular with Republicans and benefits red states more than it does blue states. So the Republicans have the choice to go along or ultimately explain to their constituents why loyalty to Trump is more important than loyalty to their constituents.
