Transcript of Woodhouse: Americans see through Trump’s healthcare lies

Republicans seem absolutely gitty at causing pain, specifically targeted at democratic States and democratic cities as a result of the government shutdown. Like an abuser, you hear these statements coming from the White House. Just the psychological profile of abusers, and they're out there saying, You made us hurt you. We have to inflict pain upon you. You did this to yourselves. Here, for example, is Donald Trump's chief propagandist, Caroline Levet, saying, Democrats, we didn't want to have to do this to you, but now you've made us mad. Here, play this clip.

Because he mentioned Russ Vot in that.

I think that came out about 8: 00 this morning about cutting certain programs that they deem are not necessary.

Is that real or is that a negotiating tactic?

It's very real. The Democrats should know that they put the White House and the President in this position. And if they don't want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government. It's very simple. Pass the Clean Continuing Resolution, and all of this goes away. We would not be having these discussions here at the White House today. If If not for the Democrats voting to shut the government down. This is an unfortunate consequence, and the President and Russ Vote will be meeting on that later today.

How much do- That's one tactic. Then you have Congresswoman McClane, MAGA Republican from Michigan. Her tactic is just to say, Just sign the CR. Just sign it. So as they're threatening to literally cause abuse to people, the other tactic is, Here, just sign it. Just sign it. Literally, watch what they do. Here, play this clip.

Pass the Clean Republican CR bill that we already passed. I mean, it's really, really simple. That's it. Just pass it. Just pass it.

Don't talk to us. We're not going to talk Why would we do the work of government? Yes, we need your votes. We need them, but we don't even want to talk to you. We don't want to do negotiations. We don't want to do what students are taught in third grade government class. Just find the thing. Then you have Maggie Mike Johnson from inside the Capitol saying, But look, look, look. Russ Vot, the author of Project 2025, that Donald Trump claimed he knew nothing about, who's now the Office of Management and Budget Director. He takes no pleasure in causing this pain. But of course, he's going to have to do it, and he's going to have to reflect the priorities of the regime. That means he's going to have to hurt you, Democrats, because Donald Trump doesn't view you as his constituents. We're going to play this clip.

They have now effectively turned off the legislative branch, the Article 2 branch, or the Article 1, sorry, the Article 1 branch of our government, and they've turned it over to the executive. In that situation, when Congress turns off the funding and the funding runs out, it is up to the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States, to determine how those resources will be spent. He has that responsibility given to him by the Democrats in the Senate. They can't complain about it, and he doesn't want to do it. But In this scenario, what they have to do is make very difficult decisions. Most of the responsibility falls to Russ Vogue. He's the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, as you know. Whomever is seated in the chair at OMB during a shutdown has to do the same thing. Russ does this reluctantly. We had a 45-minute telephone conference with him yesterday. He talked to all the House Republicans. He takes no pleasure in this because Russ has to sit down and decide because he's in charge of that office. Which policies, personnel, and which programs are essential and which are not. That is not a fun task, and he is not enjoying that responsibility.

It could end today if the Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing for the American people. But if they don't, and if they keep the government closed, it's going to get more and more painful. Possible because the resources run out and more and more things have to be reduced and eliminated. Now, when he sits down as the director of OMV, he will obviously have a subjective determination on the priorities. What do you think he would do? Because what would any OMB director do under any president? They're going to look to see for the administration's priorities first and ensure that those are funded. Those are some very serious determinations that have to be made.

Now, we know that MAGA Republican senators have said, and I'm giving you a direct quote, that Russ's vote has been waiting for this moment since he hit puberty. That's a direct quote from MAGA Republican senators. Donald Trump posted on Thursday, I have a meeting today with Russ Vot. He have Project 2025 Fame. Wait a minute. I thought Trump said he didn't know what Project 2025 was. To determine which of the many Democrat agencies, most of which are political scams, he recommends to be cut and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can't believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They're not stupid people. So maybe this is their way of wanting to quietly and quickly Make America Great Again, President DJT. I mean, how utterly, utterly pathetic can you get right there? I want to bring in right now Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care. The organization is Protecting Our Care with the Affordable Care Act and the defense of the Affordable Care Act. Brad, it's great to see you again. You were on the Midas Touch Network back in 2021. Everybody could go see a throwback of that.

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But here we are now. I want to get into everything you heard there. But the very first thing I want to get into, though, is why the Republicans have chosen to shut down the government because they refuse to extend the Affordable Care Cair Act tax credits. And they try to say this is for illegal immigrants and that this is for transgender Peruvian surgeries. I don't even know what they're even talking about. I never know what they're talking about. But explain to us what's really at stake, what's really at stake with the Affordable Care Act tax premiums and why Democrats are saying this should be a bipartisan issue. What are you doing?

Well, absolutely. Health care should be a bipartisan issue. And by the way, if you look at all the polls on the affordable the Care Act tax credits, on Medicaid, on lower in prescription drug prices, across the board, Republicans, Democrats, and independents support policies that lower cost and expand coverage. But Republicans Americans in the big ugly bill that they passed this summer. They did it through reconciliation, didn't need any Democratic votes. They hijacked American health care to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Democrats have a little leverage here. Also, they should be consulted in the appropriations process. That's always been the norm. And they said, let's have a meeting. So they started. Jeffrey and Schumer were sending letters to the President and to Thune and Johnson early this summer saying, let's have a meeting. Let's have a meeting. And they didn't do a meeting until this week after the House had passed a dirty CR, the same continuing resolution or same funding bill that almost every Democrat voted against in March, just shoving it down the Democrats throat and not willing to have a conversation about health care. And to your question, the ACA tax credits that were enhanced during the Biden administration that helped get us the lowest uninsured rate in the history of America are going to expire at the end of the year.

And so Democrats have said they have to be on the table as part of this discussion. They've also said that the Medicaid cuts that were part of the Big ugly Bill a trillion dollars of which funded tax breaks for billionaires, that they need to be on the table. And you combine those two things. You have 15 million people who are going to lose health care. We are tracking 500 hospitals that have either closed, announced they're going to close, or at risk of closing, or have drawn down some operations. And then on the premium tax credits, 24 million people, 4 million people will lose coverage, 20 million people will see their premiums more than double if these tax credits aren't extended.

I saw this data posted by Steven Ratner. Democrats are fighting to preserve an Obama tax credit. Without it, a 55-year-old couple making $85,000 would see their premiums more than triple to $24,535. So even right now, if your premiums at $8,000 making $85,000 a year. That's a significant hit that people are taking annually on their health care. I mean, if you are tripling that, you see right there how that number automatically, you add another $16,000 while Americans are psychologically tortured right now in this Trump era of living paycheck to paycheck, where's someone making $85,000 going to find $16,000 in in order to do it? And so can you get into some of the detail of other... I see that as an example. What else are you tracking stories like that?

Well, we're tracking a ton of stories like that. And let me answer your question, where will they find the $16,000? They probably won't. They will probably drop coverage. They won't have coverage, or they'll have to make really critical choices, not investing in retirement, not investing in a college education for their for their kids, not being able to do what we should all be able to do, which is maybe take a vacation once every couple of years. So there are the premium increases. Kaiser said on average, 114 %. That's more than double. And then you have four or five million people, which this example couple might or probably would fall into. They would lose coverage entirely. But then you put on top of that, this will increase premiums in other markets. It will increase premiums in the employer market, ones that are not subject to the tax credits because insurance companies are going to take this opportunity and do this across the board. They're going to set rates that affect the marketplace And they're going to set rates that affect private insurance. And then, of course, the Medicaid cuts. That affects nursing homes. It affects the ability to care for your disabled child.

It affects community health centers, rural hospitals. So there is a A health care crisis in this country. Republicans could fix it in this funding process. They won't even talk about it. And as your clip showed, they just want to shove a dirty funding bill that only Republicans wrote with no Democrats in the room. They want to shove it down the throats of the of the American people.

The whole process relies on some modicum of good faith. And when you take out the good faith negotiation at all and good faith in fair dealing, what else are Democrats supposed to do when the other side doesn't want to talk to you? Frankly, the issues that you're fighting for are actually a life or death issue for not just your constituents, but for all Americans who we just outlined how they're either going to lose health care coverage, die, or try to figure out some way to not buy groceries or not send their kids to college or not actually be able to live their life. So I want to go to this last piece of it where the Republican playbook right here, Let's Blame Transgender People in Peru. Set that one aside. Not that it shouldn't be said. It's ridiculous. They're all ridiculous. But this idea that, and this is where they've had to maneuver because I think they realized that by federal law, undocumented migrants don't get Medicare or Affordable Care Act tax credits or anything like that. So I guess what they're saying now is, have you ever been to an emergency room and you see the migrant right there and you need to be treated, but there's a migrant and there are long waits in the emergency room.

The Democrats want to allow that migrant to be treated. How bad is that? And you go back, I mean, this is from what? Amtala Emergency Medical Treatment Act. You go back to the Reagan days and even This was a bipartisan issue, too, that when a human being is dying or bleeding out or needs emergency care, frankly, the same way I hope if there was a dog on the street that you saw had its leg injured or a cat. And you're like, I'm not going to let this dog get run over. What are we talking about? In the United States of America, we don't look at a human being and say, Dead, when you can save them. What if someone's working as a roofer and they fall off the roof and they're, you die? I mean, that's a crazy concept. So I think that's where the Republicans are going. And I'll just show you this clip and get you a response, because on Thursday, Caroline Levet was finally asked the right question. So should emergency room doctors, is what you're just saying right here, ask people their status about whether they treat them or not? And by the way, this has nothing to do with the tax credits, but this is what Republicans are pushing, I suppose.

So watch what she says here. Let's play that last flip, Salty. Caroline, should the arms check immigration status or treat a diagnosis?

I'm sorry?

Should the arms check for immigration status or treat a diagnosis?

That's probably not a question for me to answer. I think that's a question for health care professionals and legal experts to answer.

Do you understand why I'm asking you because Republicans have been saying that Democrats want to give us benefits to a documented in the US, even though it's against the law for them to get these benefits.

I know there's something- Let me ask you, do you think that a legal alien should receive Medicaid benefits? Medicaid benefits that go to the most vulnerable people in our country. Medicaid benefits that were designed to help low-income families and Americans in our country. But what the Biden administration Biden, the Biden, then she switches the topics.

And that's my big problem with them. It's not a Democrat or Republican. It's like, come on, These are liars. This was the liar in high school who you would be like, oh, this person just... This is the person. There was always that one person at the sleepovers when you would have the group events who would steal. Why is that person stealing your shit? That's what they are. It's like, Oh, get away.

Look, they're full of shit. But this is their playbook, and this is what they return to. But one of the things, The one that I think is going to be most useful in this debate, which, by the way, every poll shows that Democrats are winning, Republicans are getting the blame. There are 71% of the public wants the tax credits extended. 47% of the public blames Republicans in the Washington Post poll, only 30% blame the Democrats. But this is their playbook. When their backs are against the wall, they scapegoat immigrants. It is illegal and has always been for illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants to get Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, or the Affordable Care Act tax credits. They know that. They got caught in that line. That's why J. D. Vance stumbled and stammered to make up this thing about emergency rooms. Well, the emergency rooms, the access of migrants to emergency rooms to care for major, major problems, that was signed by a Republican President, as you said. Ronald Reagan signed that law. So they retreat to attacking immigrants. I mean, this is how Donald Trump came down that golden escalator in 2015. The very first thing in his campaign plan was to go after undocumented immigrants.

They keep doing this, but I think they fail to realize that the President has overreached on this issue already. He's underwater in the polls on mass deportations. He's underwater on the polls on how ICE is treating undocumented immigrants. He's underwater in the polls on immigration. So Look, it's a lot to begin with, and it's a failing strategy. If it was working, Democrats wouldn't be winning.

Well, I want to thank you, Brad Woodhouse, for joining us. We appreciate you as always. I'm also just seeing this data right here as well that Senator Warnock posted that one of his constituents showed them someone making $65,000 a year, their monthly premiums, verse 25 versus 2026, $307 a month in 2025, and now it'll be $964. 30 in 2026. So basically triple. I want to thank you. Thank all the work you're doing at Protect Our Care. Brad Woodhouse, Executive Director of Protect Our Care. Thank you.

Great. Thanks, Ben.

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