SURPRISED? DEMS WON’T SAY IF THEY COORDINATE WITH HEALTHCARE INSURERS: The central demand of Hill Democrats is the government stays shutdown until Republicans and President Donald Trump agree to permanent extension of Joe Bide’s “temporary” Obamacare tax subsidies.

Since healthcare insurers already reap hundreds of billions of tax dollars through those subsidies and will get even more if the subsidies become permanent, it seems imminently logical to ask what is the connection, if any? But as I report this morning for The Washington Stand:

“Spokesmen for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffres (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Kathleen Clarke (D-Mass.), and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) were each asked by TWS earlier this week if they or any members of their leadership or personal staffs have “met with executives, registered lobbyists or any other representatives” of the 10 biggest Obamacare healthcare insurers.

Of course they didn’t respond. And if they did say something, you can be certain it would be about “protecting” millions of Americans from higher premium costs that will surely follow termination of the subsidies on 12/31/25 and preserving Obamacare.

But here’s what they won’t/can’t say: The “temporary” subsidies approved in 2021 and then extended to 2025  doubled enrollment, but premiums, fraudulent enrollments, denied claims and the overall costs to taxpayers also increased dramatically. That’s why the abject failure of Obamacare is the odiferous skunk in Democrats’ shutdown strategy, a fact even the Washington Post editorial board has acknowledged.

And here’s the other things they won’t/can’t say: Massive campaign contributions from healthcare insurers going to the very Democrats in Congress now refusing to re-open the government and let members of the U.S. military, air traffic controllers, and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers be paid. And maybe, just maybe, the Democrats shutdown strategy explains why those healthcare insurers have spent record amounts lobbying Congress in the first three quarters of 2025.

And here’s a question for the Trump administration: Why is Dr. Oz the only one talking about his agency’s new investigation that is confirming the hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid benefits going to illegal immigrants, a fact that directly contradicts the claim Democrats have made incessantly since Shutdown Day One?