Rep. Thompson indicates Democrats will keep health insurance from explosive inflation

WASHINGTON>> The U.S. is in the 11th day of a federal government shutdown, which was instigated by the Democratic and Republican Congressional Representatives’ failure to extend coverage of the Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama Administration as federal workers are furloughed without pay and may face mass firings as hinted by the Trump Administration, and has brought negotiations to loggerheads.

Representative Mike Thompson (D-4th), in a virtual town hall Wednesday, fielded questions regarding possible impacts on a halt to government services. From his D.C. office Thompson responded to viewers’ questions taken by his legislative representative, Mellisa Larios. She started with the speculation which some Americans maintain that the Democrats shut the government down in order to give free health care to undocumented immigrants.

“Fact of the matter is, Medicare is going to be cut by $500 million because of the Big Beautiful Bill signed by President Trump this summer,” Thompson said. “Anybody who says the undocumented are getting free health care are telling a lie or repeating a lie they heard. Some people will believe anything they’re told by the Republican Party and a good example of that is someone as far right as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga) (who) until now who supported President Trump on nearly every policy. What a surprise one of our Republican colleagues is finally getting it.”

Thompson went on to paraphrase Taylor Green: “My own adult children’s insurance premiums are going to double. I’m disgusted that health insurance premiums will double and tax credits can expire this year. Not a single Republican in leadership talked about this or given us a plan to help Americans deal with health insurance premiums doubling. We have to do something to contain the costs.”

“So, you’re starting to see some of the cracks and the Republicans are not here (D.C.), working on it,” he said. Joining Thompson was Jessica Altman, director of Covered California. Covered California is a free service that connects Californians with brand-name health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Since the ACA , Covered California is the state’s Market Place platform that provides a tax credit to help the low income to obtain affordable health care. “It is not available to the undocumented,” she said. “It has never been available to that community. Every person on Covered California, we verify their citizenship. And the source of that is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”

Altman went on that Covered California costs are inflating and at a steep pace in particular, for middle-income earners. Yet the aim is to make certain no one will pay more than 8.5% of their income on health insurance. But some middle-income earners may discover they cannot afford it. “We’ll be moving backwards on some of the progress we made (in recent years),” she said. “But California, through our great investment and credit, has reduced its uninsured rate, more than any other state in the nation,” she said. “And since ACA that’s been our mission, getting more people covered.”

Yet Altman has been apprised of some residents’ premiums going up this year from $234 to $600., “I wish that were an isolated example, but it is the kind of impact we’ve been talking about,” she said. “It’s not inevitable; Congress could still act to restore affordability. We have some representatives fighting for affordability.”

However, The Big Beautiful Bill has already included a provision to include Medicare cuts. “We’re hoping to avoid Medicare Cuts,” Thopson said. “When you take $1 trillion out, you’ll see it affect all of health care; hospitals, rest homes will close and that’ll affect overall cost of health care. Also, if more rely on Emergency Rooms for health care, everything could be at risk.”

“Citizens must be prepared for the changes coming out of this Congress” Altman cautioned. “Get informed (about pending legislation). She also recommended filing documents verifying income in a safe place easily remembered. “But we are actually years away from work requirements (for eligibility to government benefits) but have information at your fingertips.”

Thompson also pointed out $5 trillion was cut from the federal government to give tax breaks to some of the richest people in the country. “For the past nine months this administration has taken money from medical research, from food assistance, from school meals, from law enforcement and from fire resilience,” he said. “Spending levels are meaningless if this administration continues to break the law. We need an agreement that protects against a president who doesn’t follow the law. ”

Addressing a questioner about those with no access to insurance and whether they are putting the insured at risk, Thompson noted everybody should have access to affordable, quality health care. “Cuts to the system disrupts the health care safety net,” Thompson said. “Today’s virtual Town Hall was to get the word out about how dangerous it is for people who lose their health care; and how unaffordable to see a 97% increase in your premium.”

Regarding the shut down- “I’m ready to resolve it, but I’m not willing to give up on the 30,000 in our district who see their health care premium double in price.”

© 2025 Lake County Record-Bee, Lakeport, Calif.. Visit www.record-bee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.