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Jane Coaston: It’s Thursday, December 11th. I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show noting that Fox News host Jesse Waters seemed to be lowering expectations on President Donald Trump’s economic policies in an interesting way on Wednesday. 

[clip of Fox News host Jesse Waters] Will it be enough to save the Republicans in the midterms? Probably not, but that’s okay. This is a long term deal. You’re gonna lose the house, you may keep the Senate. I’ll take that. 

Jane Coaston: The Golden Age of the Republican Party, everyone. [music break] On today’s show, President Trump, aka the marauder of Mar-a-Lago, uses the US military to seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. And welcome to the United States. May I see your passport and Instagram? A new Trump proposal could require travelers from all over the world to hand over their social media for vetting before entering the US of A. But let’s start with healthcare. Monday is your deadline to pick an insurance plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. And there is still zero plan to ensure that the enhanced subsidies that make those premiums affordable or more affordable will stay in place. More than 20 million Americans received those enhanced subsidies this year. And without them, many of those people will see their insurance premiums double. The subsidies are due to expire at the end of the year, and keeping them going was the whole reason why Democrats shut down the government a few months ago. But shockingly, the GOP doesn’t really have a plan to make healthcare more affordable or more available. And they know that’s a giant problem. But they came up with a concept of a plan. A maximum of $1,500 in the health savings accounts of people on the cheapest ACA plans. Florida Republican Senator Ashley Moody touted the work of the Senate on Fox Business Wednesday. 

[clip of Senator Ashley Moody] It’s a temporary fix while we actually dig in and explore how we can address health care for the American people. It’s the top of their mind and the Republicans want to do the work and deliver. 

Jane Coaston: Yes. Fifteen years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Republican Party is finally going to dig in and explore how to address healthcare for the American people. So for details on the Republicans’ competing health care policies and whether any of them stand a chance of passing, I spoke with Julie Rovner. She’s the chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News and host of KFF Health News’ What the Health Podcast. Julie, welcome back to What a Day. 

Julie Rovner: Hi, Jane. Thanks for having me. 

Jane Coaston: We know what Democrats want, because they’ve been saying it. They want to keep the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that have been making insurance more affordable for Americans in the ACA marketplace. The bill they’re expected to put up for vote in the Senate today would extend the subsidies for three years. Republicans committed to holding this vote in the deal that reopened the government, but does it look like anything has changed politically since all of the failed votes on this exact issue leading up to the shutdown? 

Julie Rovner: Well, possibly, but certainly they’re not going to get to the 60 that they need. Senators have, I think, become inured to the idea that this is going to happen. They’re going to put up their own bill, which I’m sure we’re going to talk about in a moment. It’s also not going to get 60 votes. Where the real action is happening right now is in the House, where a lot of Republicans are suddenly getting frantic about the fact that they’re not really doing anything about this. There’s all kinds of scrambling going on with these little various bipartisan groups who are saying, oh my God, we can’t actually let these enhanced tax credits expire and have all of our voters exposed to these much higher prices starting January 1st. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, even though the shutdown obviously didn’t get Democrats a subsidy extension, it did turn the spotlight to the ever increasing price of health insurance, which Republicans agree is an issue and have no plan for. In the days leading up to this vote, there were reports that they still hadn’t united behind a plan to put up against the Democrats. Where did they end up? 

Julie Rovner: The Senate plan would not extend these subsidies, in fact. It would give pretty much everybody in this individual market who buys their coverage on the Obamacare marketplaces $1,000 if they’re under age 50 and $1,500 if they’re over age 50 to put in a health savings account, which they could at least at the moment not use to pay premiums. They can only use it to pay for their health expenses. So uh the money wouldn’t necessarily go to the insurance companies. But, you know, I fell and broke my wrist this summer and it cost $30,000. So $1,500 would be nice, but it wouldn’t put much of a dent in that bill. It was because I had insurance that most of my surgery and rehab got paid for. If you’re healthy, this would be a great thing. And if you’re sick, this would not help you really very much at all. 

Jane Coaston: I mean, looking again at the at the proposal, individuals between eighteen and forty nine years old who make less than one hundred nine thousand five hundred and fifty dollars or seven hundred percent of the federal poverty level would get a thousand dollars in a health savings account, which again to your point, I don’t think that anyone involved here knows how much health care costs right now, because that would get you what, like a band aid, maybe? 

Julie Rovner: It would get some cheap drugs and a trip to an urgent care center. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, you just need to hope that whatever it is is not worse than that. 

Julie Rovner: Right, it would not get you in and out of your average emergency room. It basically is saying, sick people, you’re on your own. And that’s what they want. The Republicans want to say everybody should have, you know, only catastrophic insurance, which is basically only being insured for something that’s catastrophic. So it means that you have a gigantic deductible that basically, if you end up in the hospital, your bills will be covered. But otherwise, you’re going to be on the hook for the first however many thousands of dollars of coverage. Um. By the way, if they don’t renew these extra tax credits, a lot of people won’t even be able to afford that. I’ve talked to a lot of people who say I can’t even afford the cheapest plan if these extra subsidies are allowed to expire. 

Jane Coaston: So finding a solution in the Senate doesn’t look promising, but you were just talking about the House. Are there any meaningful proposals that can reach a vote there? 

Julie Rovner: Well, of course, House Speaker Johnson has promised they’re going to vote on something before they leave for the end of the year, which of course is next week. Um. And from what we are told, he put up a slide in a House conference meeting that included a whole long list of things, one of which was innovation. 

Jane Coaston: Oh. 

Julie Rovner: Nobody quite knows what that means. The other obviously big Republican proposal is to basically put more people in charge of their own health care, give them a little chunk of money and have them, in theory, go out and negotiate their own lower health care prices, which has been tried now many times because Republicans have been kicking this idea around for 30 years and it hasn’t really worked very well so far, but they keep pushing it. 

Jane Coaston: There are also some potential plans from those bipartisan groups you mentioned earlier. How are those going to get to a vote without Speaker Johnson’s support? 

Julie Rovner: Well, there is something called the discharge petition, which is of course how the Epstein Files bill got to a vote without the speaker’s support. And apparently there are a couple of discharge petitions that enough Republicans have signed on to that if all the Democrats in the House sign on to also, they would have to have a vote on. That’s how frantic I think some of these more moderate Republicans in the House are. They’re terrified that their voters are going to see these huge increases in what they are being charged for their health insurance. Some of them are gonna have to drop insurance because it’s gonna get so expensive. And they’ve heard from President Trump’s pollster that, you know, instead of being down three points in the generic ballot, they’re gonna be down fifteen points in the generic ballot and unlikely to to maintain their seats. And remember, every member of the House, unlike the Senate, is up for re-election next year. 

Jane Coaston: Now, here’s a question, which, you know, if this were any other president, I would have mentioned way earlier. Where is Trump in all of this? I mean, he’s been talking about how the ACA is so terrible and, you know, it’s been several years of like getting health care for everyone and a healthcare plan in two weeks, but has he expressed support for any specific plan?

Julie Rovner: He’s everywhere and nowhere. In theory, he’s sort of expressed support for the plan that the Senate’s going to vote on, which is conveniently sponsored by the chairs of the two relevant health committees in the Senate, Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana. They’ve sort of joined together to have what come closest to a united Republican position in the senate. 

Jane Coaston: If Congress can’t reach a deal and the enhanced ACA subsidies expire at the end of the year, what can we expect to see in the ACA marketplace and private health insurance plans in the coming months? 

Julie Rovner: Well, you know, we don’t really know yet. We saw some early numbers that suggested that enrollment was running ahead of last year. That doesn’t actually surprise me. That would happen if we were to have what they call the death spiral, where the people who need insurance most are the only ones who buy it. I mean, they will give up everything else in order to keep their health insurance. Um. So it’s likely that the people who’ve signed up already are those people who need it the most. What we’re waiting to see is whether the people who need it who are a little bit more healthy but still want health insurance will be signing up. We also have a big deadline coming up December 15th, is when people have to sign up if they want insurance coverage starting January first. So we’re sort of watching, and that’s kind of the deadline that Congress knows it’s running up against. There are people who are just watching and waiting to see what, if anything, Congress does on this. 

Jane Coaston: It feels like we’re in this constant like emergency situations with healthcare policy where we’re basically just trying to like put a metaphorical finger in the dam to prevent everything from falling apart. Where do you think the healthcare policy conversation can go from here? 

Julie Rovner: I wrote a piece, I should go back and look it up again in 1988, before George H.W. Bush was elected, saying to the effect of how bad do things have to get in the healthcare system before we absolutely have to fix it? And that was–

Jane Coaston: Oh no. 

Julie Rovner: Yeah, a really long time ago, and we really haven’t–

Jane Coaston: Oh no. 

Julie Rovner: –fixed it. We’ve had some bigger band-aids. I would say the ACA was a really big band-aid. The one perhaps silver lining out of all of this is that maybe things will get bad enough that Congress and President Trump are gonna have to actually sit down and hammer something out. Everybody is unhappy with the healthcare system as it is right now. It doesn’t function very well. Everybody is paying too much, everybody is too hassled. And so perhaps it’s time that we’re gonna have another go-round with healthcare. 

Jane Coaston: Julie, as always, thank you so much for joining me. 

Julie Rovner: Hey, keeps me employed. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Julie Rovner, Chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News and host of KFF Health News’s What the Health Podcast. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five star review on Apple podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines.

[clip of Jerome Powell] In support of our goals, in light of the balance of risks to employment and inflation, today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point. 

Jane Coaston: Side note, there’s something about Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s voice that really regulates my nervous system. ASMR for Econ Dorks. For the third time in a row, the Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday, despite dissent from three Fed officials. So what does a cut mean for Americans? Well, lower rates can bring down borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards over time. The Fed said in a statement that job gains have slowed this year, the unemployment rate has ticked up through September, and inflation is still somewhat elevated. Powell also blamed tariffs for inflation remaining high. He should really let the president know. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] From the standpoint of news. As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Large tanker, very large. Largest one ever seized. 

Jane Coaston: Does he have a tanker ranking handy? Is this something he’s into? Trump was giving arrogant pirate on Wednesday, telling reporters at the White House that U.S. forces had seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. It’s a big escalation in Trump’s deadly attacks in the region, where strikes have targeted more than 20 vessels and killed dozens of people it calls narco-terrorists. And Trump really didn’t offer any other real details about the seizure other than saying the tanker was, quote, “seized for a very good reason,” which is not a reason. But seizing an oil tanker with U.S. Forces really ratchets up the pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who faces narco-terrorism charges in the United States. In a recent interview with Politico, Trump was asked whether he’d like Maduro out of office, to which Trump responded, quote, “his days are numbered,” which feels more than a little coup-coated. Maduro did not mention the tanker in a speech Wednesday, but warned supporters that Venezuela stands ready to, quote, “break the teeth of the North American Empire if necessary.” And what does Trump plan to do with his new loot? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Well we keep it I guess. 

Jane Coaston: We’re gonna go to war again over oil, aren’t we? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] There are a lot of examples of people just buying them. It’s somewhat like a green card, but with big advantages over a green card. 

Jane Coaston: President Trump is pimping out the United States. In a newly launched website, the administration is offering residency quote, “in record time to anyone and everyone through the Trump Gold Card.” Well, not everyone. For the low, low price of $15,000 to the Department of Homeland Security for your processing fee, and a contribution of $1 million, you can quote, “unlock life in America with the gold card.” And if you’re a business owner, boy, is there a deal for you. Here’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laying out all of those details at Wednesday’s White House round table. 

[clip of Howard Lutnick] For a corporation, it’s two million dollars. And uh as the president said, for a corporation, uh they spend two million dollars. They can then have an employee. Full vetting. The best vetting the government has ever done. Fifteen thousand dollar vetting to make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America. Absolutely qualify. 

Jane Coaston: I am not sold. Trump is using the Fast Tracked Visa Program to attract and retain top talent, all while making money off them. But that’s not all. For the high rollers, the administration is choosing a Trump Platinum card, coming soon for a mere $5 million in change. You can afford that, right, big spender? If all of this is making you uneasy, no need to worry, Trump says the funds will go straight to the US government. Sure. The Trump administration is also proposing a new layer to the vetting process for tourists. An insane layer! Travelers from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, and Germany, will be required to submit five years’ worth of social media info to the US government for review. That’s according to a customs and border protection proposal filed Tuesday. The new requirement would apply to folks eligible to visit the US without a visa, so long as they get approval through the Department of Homeland Security’s electronic travel authorization system. According to the proposal, travelers would now need to submit a laundry list of personal information, including email addresses used in the last 10 years, family members’ names, birth dates, and place of birth. Oh yeah, let me just grab that for you. One second. The agency says it’s complying with an executive order from January that called for more screening of people coming to the US, which they say is an effort to prevent the entry of possible national security threats. When asked if he’s concerned the new requirements would slow tourism, Trump said no. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] We just want people to come over here safe. We want safety, we want security, we want to make sure we’re we’re not letting the wrong people come into our country. 

Jane Coaston: Correction. The wrong people he doesn’t like who post things on the internet, as opposed to the wrong people he likes a lot, who are rich and post things on the internet. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing. The Trump administration is too online. That was true back in 2020, when President Trump campaigned in Iowa on Russia, Russia, Russia and eliminating Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. You know, everyday standard kitchen table discussion topics for everyday Americans. In 2025, though, it’s way, way, way worse. Because the Trump administration isn’t just online, it’s online in the worst places to be online. It’s not just the actual president being mind-bogglingly racist pretty much all the time. The Department of Homeland Security’s Twitter account reads like white nationalist fanfiction, and right-wing pundits with the ear of the White House seem physically unable to denounce actual white supremacists. This week, The Atlantic reported that the U.S. Agency for International Development, also known as USAID, or what’s left of it, has hired Mike Benz, a conspiracy theorist with more than one million followers on Twitter. He is particularly responsible for the decimation of the agency. Benz, who has argued that Taylor Swift is a NATO asset and that USAID was, quote, “notorious for funding the darkest, most controversial, most horrifying projects known to all of mankind,” will now be tasked with substantiating his weirdo beliefs, like that USAID was inciting revolutions against right wing governments. He argued, for example, that USAID was why former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was out of power. It wasn’t. The Trump administration is going deep into every rabbit hole it can find, while actual voters are screaming at them to do something about the high prices of basically everything. And those same voters are sending the same message at the ballot box. Young voters, many of whom voted for Trump in 2024, are increasingly defining themselves as liberal, according to new polling from Yale University. The signs are all there, but the administration is choosing to interpret them as more indications that they should double down on bullshit. Even conservative pundit Eric Erickson agrees with me that the Trump administration is too damn online. He argued on his substack, quote, “the Trump administration is overrun with the kids from wealthy white elites who live their lives online and have concluded that Twitter is real life because that’s where they spend their time.” That’s 100% true. But most Americans aren’t on Twitter. They’re working or buying groceries or just trying to live their lives. Lives they aren’t living online. And the GOP just doesn’t care about them at all. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, if you’re going to misuse campaign funds, at least misuse them to see a good musician, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how, according to FEC filings, Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert spent more than $3,000 on a hotel and tickets to see Kid Rock, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and I regret to inform you that according to the Daily Mail, Boebert and Kid Rock may be dating. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our producer is Caitlin Plummer. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters and Matt Berg. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of News and Politics is Adriene Hill. We had help from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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