Margot Sanger-Katz

A lot of really low income people don't even have a bank account.

And so if you just imagine the mechanics of like, how is that person going to pay a monthly premium?

They can't write a check.

They don't have a credit card.

Not impossible, but makes it harder.

Well, I think it's important to remember Republicans never liked Obamacare.

They felt like it was a waste of money.

They thought it was putting too many rules on the health insurance system.

And this was a huge expansion.

It's a lot more dollars.

It was bringing more people into the system.

And I think they also objected to some of the specific policy changes.

They really didn't like the idea that all these people were going to get insurance for free.

It felt sort of unfair to them.

Everyone else has to pay something for health insurance.

And I think a lot of Republican lawmakers feel like,

Even these very low-income people, if they really value their insurance, they should have to pay some minimal amount just to prove that it's something that they really want and need.

But, of course, that didn't matter at the time because the Democrats controlled the entire government.

They had the Senate, the House, and the White House.

So when 2022 rolled around, the Democrats decided to extend these more generous subsidies for even longer.