longer.blue

“They aren’t suffering. they don’t even speak English.” Michael McDermott just now Thanks for reading Michael’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. “They aren’t suffering, they don’t even speak English.” RFK perfectly echoes the Trump/Republican concern for the healthcare of the American worker when he almost reprised a saying from times supposedly passed: “They aren’t suffering, they don’t even speak English.” In September 1902, about 125,000–150,000 immigrant miners—many from Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Romania—struck for shorter hours, higher wages, and union recognition . The coal operators, led by Baer, refused to meet the union’s demands. When asked by a reporter whether the miners were suffering under these conditions, Baer replied that “they don’t suffer. They don’t even speak English” RFK( the only Kennedy lacking a soul,) fittingly expressed the same sentiments of America’s Robber Barons of the 19th century who acquired enormous wealth while denying basic needs to their workers. When he discussed the paucity of Americans signing up for the ACA, he said of some: “They don’t even know they were enrolled.” This is the depth of Republican compassion, the complete disdain for the welfare of its citizens, and looking to cut vital social services under any pretext available in order to fund tax cuts for those already obscenely wealthy. Oh yeah, they want your vote in the coming election in order to sustain their inherent cruelty. See this – Boldface mine: RFK Jr. shrugs off millions losing ACA coverage: ‘They don’t even know they were enrolled’ Story by IdahoLearningNews Editorial Team • 17h • 4 min read The Health Secretary’s soundbite is colliding with a reality of rising premiums and shrinking ACA rolls — and the fight over the cause is heading straight into the midterms. A viral clip of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is drawing sharp criticism: in it, he argues that losing health coverage is no big deal for many people because “they don’t even know they were enrolled.” The timing is awkward — Affordable Care Act enrollment has fallen by nearly 3 million this year, to about 19.2 million people. The backlash is not only about one soundbite. It sits at the center of a fight over why people are dropping coverage: the Trump administration says it is cleaning up fraud, while state officials, insurers and policy analysts point to sharply higher premiums. Which explanation wins could shape the fall midterm debate. What the viral clip actually said The clip shows Kennedy making the case that dropping people from the healthcare rolls does little damage, since many were signed up without their knowledge to begin with. Social media picked it up fast, and caregivers, patients and advocacy groups responded with anger. Far from a one-off remark, the comment echoes a case Kennedy and other administration officials have made before: that falling enrollment numbers show a fraud crackdown working, not a coverage crisis. Disability advocates, state officials and policy analysts counter that the argument ignores people who are genuinely losing insurance they relied on. The fraud crackdown behind the claim Kennedy’s logic traces back to a sweeping enforcement push. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services flagged 189,000 improper or duplicate health coverage enrollments, and the administration says stopping those improper subsidies could prevent $738 million in payments in 2026, with annualized savings exceeding $1.5 billion. Kennedy has also testified before Congress about fraud in Affordable Care Act enrollment, telling lawmakers that enrollment has declined because people who were fraudulently signed up are being removed. The administration did tighten the enrollment process, including halting a Biden-era initiative in August 2025 that had aimed at expanding access. His defenders have a real point to stand on. Fraudulent broker enrollments are a genuine problem — people have been signed up for plans without their consent, sometimes by agents chasing commissions. The numbers both sides agree on There is little dispute about the raw figures. Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans fell by nearly 3 million this year to about 19.2 million, according to CBS News reporting. Earlier federal data showed 1.2 million people dropping coverage out of a total enrollment of 24.3 million as of March. What is disputed is the cause. A Department of Health and Human Services report released in June, written mostly by President Trump’s political appointees and allies, asserted that 5.6 million people were fraudulently enrolled in ACA plans in 2025 and that the administration removed 2.9 million of them — matching the enrollment drop almost exactly. Policy experts dispute that account. They point instead to steep premium increases and Congress’s decision not to extend enhanced subsidies. According to KFF, ACA customers now pay an average of $178 a month in premiums, a 58% increase from 2025, while deductibles have climbed 37% to nearly $3,800 a year. See more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/rfk-jr-shrugs-off-millions-losing-aca-coverage-they-don-t-even-know-they-were-enrolled/ar-AA2ev0xU?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=ce90464acce54bf6e5dc48c50f2b2121&ei=68 Thanks for reading Michael’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.