Lieu: ACA Subsidies Help Insurance Companies, But That’s ‘a Dumb Argument’

On Wednesday’s edition of CBS’s “The Takeout,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said that it is true that Obamacare tax credits help insurance companies, but “That’s because health care is too expensive across the board,” and it’s “a dumb argument” to say that this is a problem with the subsidies.

Host Major Garrett asked, “Congressman, when you hear Republicans say — as they’ve begun to say in the last week or so — one of the problems with the extension — or extending the Obamacare tax credits is that money goes straight to insurance companies, insurance companies have profited from that, and that they are overly generous because they allow people, 400% above the poverty line to receive these extended Obamacare tax credits, there needs to be reforms to them, do you want to keep them exactly as they are or are you open to reform?”

Lieu responded, “That is just a dumb argument, right? So, people who have employer-based health care, the reason that the employees can afford that is because employers are paying a lot of that healthcare premium, and that goes straight to insurance companies. So, people on the Affordable Care Act, they don’t have employers, and the employers can’t pay that, so the government is, essentially, doing that part of it. And, yes, of course, it goes to insurance companies. That’s because health care is too expensive across the board, and we have to lower healthcare costs. But, in the meantime, we’ve got to make sure that people on the Affordable Care Act can get the health care because they have skyrocketing costs because the Trump administration and what Republicans have done.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett