The United States Senate is gearing up for a vote that will shape the future of American healthcare—and, as predictably as sunrise, Democrats are already shouting “crisis” while conveniently skipping over who caused it in the first place.

COVID-era subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, which means premiums are about to soar even higher for many Americans. But the blame doesn’t fall on COVID, or Republicans, or “MAGA extremists.” It falls squarely on the same Obamacare machine that has always served insurance companies first and patients last. And instead of acknowledging the Affordable Care Act’s failures, Democrats are pointing fingers at Donald Trump.

It’s worth remembering that these enhanced subsidies were designed to expire at the end of 2025—and that timeline was set exclusively by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act. Not one Republican voted for it. In other words, the “crisis” Democrats are warning about is a crisis they created.

They’ve had 15 years to make Obamacare affordable. They promised massive bargaining power, lower premiums, and competition that would benefit everyday Americans. Instead, premiums rose relentlessly. The original subsidies hid the problem for a while, but once those weren’t enough, Democrats rolled out “temporary” COVID enhancements that dramatically increased taxpayer spending. Now, they want to make those inflated subsidies permanent—not to improve the system, but to keep papering over the fact that Obamacare cannot stand on its own against standard private insurance.

Obama promised refunds, lower premiums, and the ability to keep your plan. None of it materialized. Meanwhile, the seven largest health insurers have watched their revenues explode—tripling from $511 billion in 2014 to $1.5 trillion in 2024. That’s the real fruit of Obamacare’s grand vision.

And yet, the same people cheering Luigi Mangione for attacking a “greedy” insurance CEO now demand that taxpayers shovel even more money into those very same corporations. All to keep a broken system afloat.

Obamacare isn’t just ineffective—it’s riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse. The Government Accountability Office sounded the alarm years ago.

And nothing has changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse. A new GAO report reveals that tens of thousands of fraudulent accounts are receiving subsidized coverage—dead people, fake people, unidentified users. Taxpayer dollars flowing into a black hole.

GAO investigators found more than 29,000 Social Security numbers in 2023 and nearly 68,000 in 2024 that were used to receive more than a year’s worth of coverage in a single plan year. Why? Because the system has virtually no functional fraud detection. When the GAO tested it with 20 fake identities, 18 were still receiving coverage.

It’s an embarrassment—one Democratic lawmakers would rather ignore. Especially those like Sarah McBride.

Ignore, deflect, deny. It’s the Democrats’ playbook—and they’re hoping it carries them through today’s vote.

President Trump, however, isn’t mincing words. He’s had enough of the insurance companies winning while Americans lose. He said as much in a new interview with Politico.

Even Democrats know the system is failing. Senator Bernie Sanders is finally saying the quiet part out loud: Obamacare is a disaster.

So close, yet so far. Sanders recognizes the failure, but wants to fix it with even *more* government control—and extend the same broken program for another three years.

Senator John Kennedy puts it plainly:

So what’s the alternative? Give the money back to the American people.

That’s exactly what Senators Bill Cassidy and Mike Crapo are proposing. Cassidy—who spent years treating uninsured patients in Louisiana’s charity system—knows firsthand the struggles families face. His new plan is designed to put patients first.

This proposal, the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act, builds on the One Big Beautiful Bill and expands eligibility for health savings accounts (HSAs). Here’s what could be available as early as next year if the Senate listens to patients instead of lobbyists:

• Cheaper plans become more attractive. Special HSAs for people on bronze or catastrophic plans, with government contributions of $1,000 per year if you’re under 50 and $1,500 if you’re older (as long as your income isn’t high).
• Insurers finally get reimbursed for mandated cost-sharing—as long as their plans don’t cover abortion. This alone drops benchmark premiums by about 11%. And by 2027, anyone can buy copper catastrophic plans.
• Tighter Medicaid rules. States that use their own funds to cover undocumented immigrants get reduced federal matching rates. No one receives Medicaid or CHIP benefits until their citizenship or legal status is fully verified.
• No taxpayer dollars for gender-transition treatments in either Obamacare plans or Medicaid, except in rare medical cases.

More money in your pocket. Cheaper plans. Real rules. Real accountability.

It puts the power—and the dollars—back where they belong: with the American people.

It’s time to end the excuses, end the waste, and finally put patients first. America deserves healthcare that works for families—not for bureaucrats, insurers, or political agendas.