Open Sesame

 

We open today’s post by remembering Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.  It took a magical command to open the cave filled with treasure, “Open Sesame”.  That story, part of the One Thousand and One Nights Arabic folktales, is, of course, fiction.  The story of the American people trying to get Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to open the US House of Representatives is, unfortunately, very real. 

You may recall that Mr. Johnson sent our representatives home for 54 days during the government shutdown so that he could avoid the Discharge Petition that had been created to force the release of the Epstein Files as well as addressing the expiring Enhanced Premium Tax Credit Subsidies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  Mr. Johnson recently adjourned the House before Christmas in an effort to stall talks, again, on the subsidies.  The House might be gaveled into session once more in 2025 or he might wait until the first week of January 2026.  And we wait.  You can scream “Open Sesame”, but doing nothing is his superpower. 

This blog has discussed the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits since their inclusion in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  This is the link to the post from March 2021.  Many of us celebrated what was the first meaningful tweak of Obamacare.  What we found amazing was that the elected representatives from the states that would most benefit from this change, states like West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas, would be the ones leading the fight against this enhancement of the subsidy program.  They fought it at inception and they have worked hard to eliminate these tax credits.  The October 2025 post listed the ten states that would experience the highest rates increases if the subsidies were allowed to expire. 

The rate increases that so many of you are about to pay were inevitable.  The number of rural hospitals that will close due to the rise in the number of uninsured and under-insured will not be a surprise to our leaders in Washington.  And as each rate increase puts comprehensive coverage out of reach, our health insurance system, the way most Americans access and pay for health care, will enter into a death spiral. This blog has been detailing the intentional sabotaging of our system since 2017, but a post from February 2025 brought a lot of this up to date.  This blog also presented a detailed explanation of Project 2025 in the July 2024 post.  If you don’t know how we got here, you aren’t prepared to stop the destruction we are witnessing.  It is not too late! 

IF, and this is a big if, if Congress addresses this issue and continues the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit Subsidies, we will need a Special Enrollment Period.  If the work gets done and signed into law in January, Americans will need an opportunity to reevaluate their health insurance options.  This can be done by opening a three month window, such as February, March, and April.  The first step is to get Mike Johnson to open the House. 

The doors, like Congress, seemed impossible to open.  The riddle was “Speak friend and enter”.  The wisest among them could not see the solution, but riddles are meant to be solved.  And Congress, comprised of men and women elected to represent us, is meant to be open. 

Dave 

Health Insurance Issues With Dave 

Picture – Open Just A Crack – David L Cunix

I hope you enjoyed the riddle...