Government Shutdown: SNAP Is Running Out of Money, Democrats Angry Illegal Aliens No Longer Qualify | The Gateway Pundit

Government Shutdown: SNAP Is Running Out of Money, Democrats Angry Illegal Aliens No Longer Qualify

SNAP benefits education photo, courtesy of the State of Texas government, via screenshot.

The horror stories are all over the media and social platforms, and people are panicking that those receiving taxpayer-funded groceries may soon have to work and pay for their food like everyone else. Not only is President Trump not rushing to restart food stamps, but he is also auditing the program to ensure illegal aliens are no longer receiving them.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), formerly known as food stamps, is the federal government’s largest anti-hunger program, providing monthly food benefits to roughly 42 million low-income Americans through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards. As of October 1, 2025, recipients receive maximum monthly SNAP allotments of $298 for one person, $546 for two people, $785 for three people, $994 for four people, $1,183 for five people, $1,421 for six people, $1,571 for seven people, and $1,789 for eight people, with an additional $218 for each additional person.

Now, SNAP is on the verge of running out of funding. Nearly 42 million recipients could lose their benefits as the federal shutdown continues. Funding for October was distributed to states before the shutdown began on October 1, but unless Congress restores appropriations, benefits will stop being issued on November 1.

In a letter dated October 10, 2025, USDA Acting Head of SNAP Ronald Ward warned, “If the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the nation.” Several states, including Texas, have already announced that SNAP benefits will be suspended if the shutdown extends past October 27.

The shutdown itself stems from Democrat refusal to fund the government unless President Trump reverses new eligibility restrictions that bar illegal aliens from federal assistance programs. Trump, meanwhile, is using the shutdown to audit and tighten oversight of every major welfare and benefit program, insisting that taxpayer funds must go only to citizens and lawful residents.

On April 24, 2025, USDA Acting Deputy Under Secretary John Walk issued guidance directing all state agencies to enhance identity and immigration verification practices when determining SNAP eligibility. States are now required to obtain more reliable documents to verify identity, prevent fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, and make greater use of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. USDA Secretary Rollins cited a Government Accountability Office report showing $10.5 billion in improper SNAP payments in fiscal year 2023, roughly 12 percent of total benefits that year, with inadequate verification of applicants’ identity and citizenship identified as a key problem.

In July 2025, the USDA expanded its data collection requirements, ordering states to provide five years of SNAP records, including all household members’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and addresses. At least 27 states have complied, turning over data that USDA is now cross-checking against DHS records through the SAVE system.

While illegal aliens are already ineligible for SNAP, many had accessed benefits through their U.S.-born children or mixed-status households, an issue the new audit aims to close.

The administration’s reform push extends beyond SNAP. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) sent directives to state administrators of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), reminding them that under Executive Order 14218 and federal law, benefits may not be extended to illegal aliens.

TANF, created under the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, provides cash assistance and support services to low-income families with children but limits eligibility to qualified citizens and lawful immigrants.

ACF Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison stated, “As a TANF agency, you are responsible for ensuring that sub-recipients and contractors follow all applicable laws related to the use of TANF funds, including prohibitions against providing benefits to illegal aliens.”

The SNAP contingency fund has become one of the most contentious issues in the ongoing funding crisis. The fund, which rolls over in three-year increments, currently holds about $6 billion from appropriations in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. However, it lacks the additional $3 billion that would have been added for fiscal year 2026, as Congress remains deadlocked over that funding bill, the same impasse that triggered the current government shutdown.

The estimated cost of November’s nationwide SNAP benefits is $8 billion, meaning the contingency fund alone cannot cover the full amount but could provide partial payments to help low-income Americans offset food costs.

On Friday, the USDA announced it will not use the contingency fund to pay November SNAP benefits if the shutdown continues beyond October 31. The agency said the fund was created for emergencies such as natural disasters, not for political or budgetary disputes, and therefore cannot be used under current law.

Critics argue this move is intended to increase pressure on Senate Democrats to approve the GOP spending bill that would reopen the government.

Legal and policy experts disagree on whether the USDA’s position is lawful. Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the administration is legally obligated to use the contingency funds to pay November benefits and should have prepared weeks in advance to do so. Policy analyst Katie Bergh echoed this point, arguing that SNAP is an entitlement program, meaning the USDA must provide funding and could legally reallocate money as it has done for the WIC nutrition program.

The dispute also has a history of accounting irregularities. On September 19, 2023, the USDA shifted its accounting practice by using fiscal year 2023 funds to pay for October 2023 benefits, which were due in fiscal year 2024.

The Government Accountability Office later ruled that both the previous and revised methods violated the recording statute and that the September 19 change further violated the bona fide needs statute by using funds from one fiscal year to pay obligations from another.

When asked by The Hill why the USDA refuses to use the contingency fund, the department did not address the question directly. Instead, an agency spokesperson reiterated Secretary Rollins’s earlier stance, saying the responsibility lies with Democrats in Congress. “We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats,” the spokesperson said. “They must decide whether to continue holding out for the far-left wing of their party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments.”

The irony is that this shutdown exists precisely because Democrats oppose the verification measures and eligibility restrictions implemented under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Their refusal to accept these reforms triggered the shutdown. Now, that same shutdown is causing federal programs to run out of money while simultaneously giving President Trump the opportunity to remove illegal aliens from taxpayer-funded benefit programs across the board, once and for all. The democrats finally saved the taxpayers some money.

The post Government Shutdown: SNAP Is Running Out of Money, Democrats Angry Illegal Aliens No Longer Qualify appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Backfire: Hakeem Jeffries Left Humilated on CNBC as Host Makes an Important Point That Completely Demolishes His Case for the Government Shutdown (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit

Backfire: Hakeem Jeffries Left Humilated on CNBC as Host Makes an Important Point That Completely Demolishes His Case for the Government Shutdown (VIDEO)

“Squawk Box” co-host Becky Quick embarrasses House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries by destroying his case for the government shutdown. Credit: CNBC screenshot

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) continues to make an embarrassment of himself every time he appears on television to try to talk about the government shutdown his party caused.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the Schumer Shutdown took effect at 12:01 am on October 1 after two measures to avert the government shutdown failed in the Senate.

The measures needed 60 votes to pass. The GOP-backed measure failed to pass in a 55-45 vote – Rand Paul voted with the Democrats.

The Democrat Party to put the welfare of illegal aliens, higher taxes by repealing Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill, surgeries for transgender minors, and more garbage ahead of keeping the government running.

Jeffries, however, has continuously claimed that Democrats had no choice because they needed to force Republicans to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits or else Americans would face crippling health insurance bills.

On Friday, Jeffries appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to again make his point and to smear Republicans as the party responsible for the shutdown, but co-host Becky Quick was not buying his garbage.

Quick made an excellent point that completely dismantled Jeffries’ argument for the shutdown. She noted that Democrats had a golden opportunity to permanently extend the Obamacare tax credits when they controlled all three branches of government, yet they failed to do so.

Instead, they settled for a mere three-year extension, which has created this current predicament. Now, the Democrats are holding the government hostage to demand that THE REPUBLICANS fix the problem.

You cannot get more shameless and pathetic than this.

Jeffries had no way to counter the Quick except to repeat the facts she revealed before returning to his stupid talking points.

WATCH:

🚨 BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries just got brutally EMBARRASSED on national television – gets CALLED OUT for his hypocrisy

"What you're asking Republicans to do when they control the White House, Senate and House is what the DEMOCRATS could NOT do when you controlled all 3 heads of… pic.twitter.com/86d20BmmYK

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 24, 2025

QUICK: What you are asking Republicans to do right now, when they control the White House, the Senate, and the House, is effectively what the Democrats could not do when they controlled all three branches of government.

The three-year setup for the expiration of these (Obamacare) credits was intentionally put in when you controlled the White House, the House, and the Senate.

This is a set-up of your own creation…Now you want the Republicans to do something you didn’t do when you were in power.

JEFFRIES: Uh, it’s not a setup beyond what we can do. Uh, we extended the Affordable Care Act tax credits in 2022 for three years…And it should be continued.

The post Backfire: Hakeem Jeffries Left Humilated on CNBC as Host Makes an Important Point That Completely Demolishes His Case for the Government Shutdown (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

ObamaCare Premiums Are Going Up, New Figures Show | ZeroHedge

Premiums for Affordable Care Act plans are rising in 2026, according to new figures from 12 states.

Premiums are set to increase by thousands of dollars for the average family, according to the data, which was published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

That includes a $20,700 annual jump for a 60-year-old couple in Oregon and a $32,600 annual spike for a family of four in Vermont with $130,000 annual income, according to Oct. 20 posts on X by Gideon Lukens, a senior fellow and director of research at the center.

Oregon and Vermont are also seeing premium spikes due to expiring tax credit enhancements, as their window shopping is underway for 2026 ACA marketplace plans. A typical 60-year-old Oregonian couple making $85,000 will face a $20,700 increase in annual premiums. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/2WntKbf4Dt

— Gideon Lukens (@GidLukens) October 20, 2025

As Zachary Stieber details below for The Epoch Times, the enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is set to open on Nov. 1 for most marketplaces.

Some states have been allowing people to preview plans.

The federal government has not published prices for the 28 state exchanges it runs.

The higher prices stem from Congress not reaching a deal to extend broad subsidies for Obamacare, which are slated to expire at the end of 2025. The subsidies come in the form of refundable tax credits. The credits had for years been available to poorer individuals not eligible for Medicaid or other public insurance, before Congress in 2021 loosened eligibility criteria. Lawmakers extended the broadened criteria in the Inflation Reduction Act.

KFF, a nonprofit that analyzes health data, said in September that if the broadened subsidies expire, premiums would more than double on average in 2026 to $1,904 from $888.

Americans across income brackets would see increases, although those with little income would see maximum increases of about $82 a month.

The majority of the more than 24 million people enrolled in a plan currently receive the credits.

A man near an office with a sign about Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, in Miami, Fla., in an undated file photograph. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Permanently extending the enhanced credits would increase the number of people with health insurance by 3.8 million in 2035, but add $350 billion to the federal deficit in the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Congress is in the midst of a shutdown after parties failed to reach an agreement on a funding bill.

Some lawmakers have been trying to extend the Obamacare subsidies or otherwise alter the health insurance system.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Senate Republican majority leader, said recently he is open to discussing Obamacare with Democrats, but only if the shutdown ends.

“I will not negotiate under hostage conditions, nor will I pay a ransom. Period,” he said.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, told a briefing on Monday that the parties must find a way to reopen the government with an agreement that extends the Obamacare subsidies.

“In Idaho, 100,000 Americans are at risk of losing their health care if the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire because it will become unaffordable for them,” he said.

This is NOT an end-of-year issue. Open enrollment runs Nov.1 – Jan.15 for most states and window shopping begins in October. If Congress waits until Dec.31, 1.5 million more people will be uninsured in 2026 compared to an earlier extension. (4/4)https://t.co/fdcuhagfEw

— Gideon Lukens (@GidLukens) October 20, 2025

Source: ObamaCare Premiums Are Going Up, New Figures Show

DOJ Charges 324 in Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History — $14.6 BILLION Scheme Involved 96 Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists Targeting Medicare and Medicaid | The Gateway Pundit

DOJ Charges 324 in Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History — $14.6 BILLION Scheme Involved 96 Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists Targeting Medicare and Medicaid

Screenshot: Fox News

The Department of Justice on Monday unveiled a record-shattering crackdown on the corrupt underbelly of America’s health care system. A jaw-dropping 324 defendants — including 96 medical professionals — have been charged in 50 federal districts and 12 states for orchestrating over $14.6 billion in intended fraud, largely targeting Medicare, Medicaid, and federal health programs meant to serve the elderly, disabled, and the poor.

The takedown, spearheaded by the DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Unit in coordination with HHS-OIG, the FBI, the DEA, and over a dozen state attorney general offices, marks the largest health care fraud bust in U.S. history.

“Today, as we announced the largest coordinated health care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice, it marks a decisive moment in our fight to protect American taxpayers from fraudsters and to defend the integrity of America’s health care system,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, DOJ’s Head of the Criminal Division.

“We are announcing today charges against 324 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $14.6 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs.”

“These criminals didn’t just steal someone else’s money — they stole from you. Every fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme represents money taken directly from the pockets of American taxpayers who fund these essential programs through their hard work and sacrifice. And when criminals defraud these programs, they’re not just committing theft — they’re driving up our national deficit and threatening the long-term viability of health care for seniors, disabled Americans, and our most vulnerable citizens.”

WATCH:

🚨BREAKING: The DOJ has just announced the results of the largest National Health Care Fraud Takedown in American history.

This massive operation led to criminal charges against 324 defendants—including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical… pic.twitter.com/gC07gzeXWG

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) June 30, 2025

More from the DOJ:

Transnational Criminal Organizations

29 defendants were charged for their roles in transnational criminal organizations alleged to have submitted over $12 billion in fraudulent claims to America’s health insurance programs.

For instance, a nationwide investigation known as Operation Gold Rush resulted in the largest loss amount ever charged in a health care fraud case brought by the Department. These charges were announced in the Eastern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, the Central District of California, the Middle District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey against 19 defendants. Twelve of these defendants have been arrested, including four defendants who were apprehended in Estonia as a result of international cooperation with Estonian law enforcement and seven defendants who were arrested at U.S. airports and the U.S. border with Mexico, cutting off their intended escape routes as they attempted to avoid capture.

The organization allegedly used a network of foreign straw owners, including individuals sent into the United States from abroad, who, acting at the direction of others using encrypted messaging and assumed identities from overseas, strategically bought dozens of medical supply companies located across the United States. They then rapidly submitted $10.6 billion in fraudulent health care claims to Medicare for urinary catheters and other durable medical equipment by exploiting the stolen identities of over one million Americans spanning all 50 states and using their confidential medical information to submit the fraudulent claims. As alleged, the organization exploited the U.S. financial system by laundering the fraudulent proceeds and deploying a range of tactics to circumvent anti-money laundering controls to transfer funds into cryptocurrency and shell companies located abroad. The arrests announced today also include a banker who facilitated the money laundering of fraud proceeds on behalf of the organization through a U.S.-based bank.

The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team and its partners detected the anomalous billing through proactive data analytics, and HHS-OIG and CMS successfully prevented the organization from receiving all but approximately $41 million of the approximately $4.45 billion that was scheduled to be paid by Medicare. HHS and CMS intend to seek to return the $4.41 billion in escrow to the Medicare trust fund for needed medical care. The scheme nonetheless resulted in payments of approximately $900 million from Medicare supplemental insurers. To date, law enforcement has seized approximately $27.7 million in fraud proceeds as part of Operation Gold Rush.

In another action involving foreign influence, charges were filed in the Northern District of Illinois against five defendants, including two owners and executives of Pakistani marketing organizations, in connection with a $703 million scheme in which Medicare beneficiaries’ identification numbers and other confidential health information were allegedly obtained through theft and deceptive marketing. The defendants allegedly used artificial intelligence to create fake recordings of Medicare beneficiaries purportedly consenting to receive certain products. According to court documents, the beneficiaries’ confidential information was then illegally sold to laboratories and durable medical equipment companies, which used this unlawfully obtained and fraudulently generated data to submit false claims to Medicare. Certain defendants controlled dozens of nominee-owned durable medical equipment companies and laboratories that allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for products and services the beneficiaries did not request, need, or receive. Certain defendants also allegedly conspired to conceal and launder the fraud proceeds from bank accounts they controlled in the United States to bank accounts overseas. In total, the defendants caused approximately $703 million in alleged fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, which paid approximately $418 million on those claims. The government seized approximately $44.7 million from various bank accounts related to this case.

Finally, a defendant based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates who owned a billing company allegedly orchestrated a scheme to prey upon vulnerable individuals in need of addiction treatment by conspiring with treatment center owners to fraudulently bill Arizona Medicaid approximately $650 million for substance abuse treatment services. According to court documents, some of the services billed were never provided, while other services were provided at a level that was so substandard that it failed to serve any treatment purpose. As part of the conspiracy, treatment center owners allegedly paid illegal kickbacks in exchange for the referral of patients recruited from the homeless population and Native American reservations. The defendant received at least $25 million of ill-gotten Arizona Medicaid funds as a result of the conspiracy and is charged with a money laundering offense for his alleged use of those funds to purchase a $2.9 million home located on a golf estate in Dubai.

Fraudulent Wound Care

Charges were filed in the District of Arizona and the District of Nevada against seven defendants, including five medical professionals, in connection with approximately $1.1 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health care benefit programs for amniotic wound allografts. As alleged, certain defendants targeted vulnerable elderly patients, many of whom were receiving hospice care, and applied medically unnecessary amniotic allografts to these patients’ wounds. Many of the allografts allegedly were applied without coordination with the patients’ treating physicians, without proper treatment for infection, to superficial wounds that did not need this treatment, and to areas that far exceeded the size of the wound. Certain defendants allegedly received millions in illegal kickbacks from the fraudulent billing scheme.

Prescription Opioid Trafficking

74 defendants, including 44 licensed medical professionals, were charged across 58 cases in connection with the alleged illegal diversion of over 15 million pills of prescription opioids and other controlled substances. For example, five defendants associated with one Texas pharmacy were charged with the unlawful distribution of over 3 million opioid pills. As alleged, the defendants conspired to distribute massive quantities of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol, which were subsequently trafficked by street-level drug dealers, generating large profits for the defendants. This coordinated action is a continuation of the Health Care Fraud Unit’s systematic approach to stopping drug trafficking organizations and their pharmaceutical wholesale suppliers, which together have fueled an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse for nearly a decade.

DEA also announced today that in the last six months, DEA charged 93 administrative cases seeking the revocation of pharmacies, medical practitioners, and companies authority to handle and/or prescribe controlled substances.

Telemedicine and Genetic Testing Fraud

In today’s Takedown, 49 defendants were charged in connection with the submission of over $1.17 billion in allegedly fraudulent claims to Medicare resulting from telemedicine and genetic testing fraud schemes. For example, in the Southern District of Florida, prosecutors charged an owner of telemedicine and durable medical equipment companies with a $46 million scheme in which Medicare beneficiaries were allegedly targeted through deceptive telemarketing campaigns and then fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare for durable medical equipment and genetic tests for these beneficiaries. The Department continues to focus on eliminating health care fraud schemes that depend on telemedicine, including schemes involving fraudulent claims for genetic testing, durable medical equipment, and COVID-19 tests.

Other Health Care Fraud Schemes

The other cases announced today charge an additional 170 defendants with various other health care fraud schemes involving over $1.84 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies for diagnostic testing, medical visits, and treatments that were medically unnecessary, provided in connection with kickbacks and bribes, or never provided at all. For example, in the Western District of Tennessee, prosecutors charged three defendants, including business owners and a pharmacist, with a $28.7 million scheme to defraud the Federal Employees’ Compensation Fund by allegedly billing for medications for injured United States Postal Service employees that were never prescribed by a licensed practitioner and largely were not dispensed as claimed. And in the Western District of Washington and the Northern District of California, prosecutors charged medical providers with allegedly stealing fentanyl and hydrocodone, respectively, that was meant for the providers’ patients, including child patients in need of anesthesia.

The post DOJ Charges 324 in Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History — $14.6 BILLION Scheme Involved 96 Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists Targeting Medicare and Medicaid appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

18 Horrifying Statistics About Medical Bills, Medical Debt And The Healthcare Industry That Will Make You So Mad You Will Want To Tear Your Hair Out | The Economic Collapse.

Do not read this article if you do not want to get angry.  The “healthcare industry” in the United States has become one gigantic money making scam, and tens of millions of American families now live in great fear of illness and disease.  Why are they so afraid?  It is because a single trip to the hospital can ruin you financially.  Even if you are covered by health insurance, medical debt can still wreck your finances.  In fact, most of the people that go bankrupt due to medical bills actually have health insurance.  Meanwhile, on the other side there are lots of people that are becoming fabulously wealthy from this system.  Our “healthcare industry” has turned large numbers of doctors, lawyers, health insurance company executives and pharmaceutical company executives into multi-millionaires.  Of course the largest shareholders in our gigantic healthcare corporations are raking in the most cash of all.  The healthcare industry in the United States has become a cesspool of corruption and greed, and this has been the case for so long that we don’t even remember what a legitimate system even looks like anymore.

Many Americans truly believed that health insurance would protect them if something went terribly wrong with their health.

But then they discovered that health insurance companies will use their “delay, deny and defend” tactics to weasel out of paying what they owe any what that they possibly can.

Even if you do have a health insurance company that is relatively honest, and that is fairly rare these days, you are still just one really bad accident or one really bad illness away from bankruptcy unless you are independently wealthy.

Our healthcare system is designed to rapidly drain money out of us when we are at our most vulnerable.  If you have to call for an ambulance to take you to the hospital, are you thinking about how much your care will cost at that point?

Of course not.  You are just hoping that you will survive.

Today, it is so easy to rack up $10,000, $20,000 or even $30,000 in medical debt in the blink of an eye and many hospitals are becoming extremely aggressive about collecting on those medical debts.

I guarantee that many of you that are reading this article know exactly what I am talking about.

One trip to the hospital can wipe out years of financial savings.  But why should it cost so much?  In many cases, a doctor only spends a few minutes with you.

Sadly, you discover the truth when you follow the money.  There are a lot of people that are becoming exceedingly wealthy from this system, and unfortunately that does not include middle class Americans.

The following are 18 horrifying statistics about medical bills, medical debt and the healthcare industry that will make you so mad you will want to tear your hair out…

#1 According to the CFPB, approximately 100 million Americans are in medical debt right now.

#2 Even though the vast majority of the population is covered by health insurance, 62 percent of the two million personal bankruptcies that are filed each year in the United States are caused by medical debt.

#3 One survey found that U.S. households have piled up more than 220 billion dollars in medical debt.

#4 A three day stay in the hospital will typically cost you somewhere around $30,000.

#5 Americans spend more than 200 billion dollars treating cancer each year.

#6 According to the CDC, heart disease costs this country more than 250 billion dollars each year.

#7 According to the NIH, diabetes costs this country more than 400 billion dollars each year.

#8 A 25-year-old mother in Nevada was handed a bill for $700,000 after her baby daughter spent about two months in the neonatal intensive care unit.

#9 One study found that hospitals overcharge Americans “by as much as 18 times over their costs”.

#10 78 percent of U.S. adults have avoided hospital visits because they cost so much.

#11 Hospital profits have risen by more than 400 percent since 1999.

#12 A study that was conducted a few years ago determined that more than 90 percent of all hospital bills contain errors that can result in “overcharges, unnecessary costs, and insurance claim denials”…

According to a 2020 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, billing errors affected over 90% of hospital bills. These errors can result in overcharges, unnecessary costs, and insurance claim denials, leading to financial hardship for patients.

#13 The average family premium for employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States has skyrocketed to $25,572 annually.

#14 One survey found that 18 percent of all insured adults in the U.S. have had a health insurance claim denied within the past year.

#15 Since Obamacare became law, the annual profits of the five largest health insurance companies in the United States have gone up by 230 percent.

#16 In 2023, the six largest health insurance companies in the United States had combined revenues of almost 1.1 trillion dollars.

#17 In 2023, the CEOs of the five largest health insurance companies in the U.S. brought home approximately 75 million dollars in total compensation.

#18 There are five giant pharmaceutical companies that each make more than 10 billion dollars in profits each year.

Our healthcare system should not be based on greed.

It should be based on helping people and doing what is right for patients.

Other industrialized nations spend a much smaller portion of their GDP on healthcare, and many of their systems are actually more efficient.

What is wrong with us?

Why can’t we get our healthcare system fixed?

Can anyone answer that question?

Unfortunately, I don’t think that it is going to be fixed.

They have made trillions of dollars by keeping us sick and managing our illnesses.

When trillions of dollars are at stake, any effort to fundamentally fix the system will be met with overwhelming resistance.

So it appears that we are stuck with our current system for the foreseeable future, and that is very bad news for all of us.

Michael’s blockbuster entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post 18 Horrifying Statistics About Medical Bills, Medical Debt And The Healthcare Industry That Will Make You So Mad You Will Want To Tear Your Hair Out appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Who’s Really Behind the Failing U.S. Healthcare System? | Standing for Freedom Center

https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2024/12/whos-really-behind-the-failing-u-s-healthcare-system/

As progressive politicians and activists justify and celebrate the assassination of a health insurance CEO, they might want to consider aiming their outrage where it really belongs — at the “affordable” healthcare reform law they all championed.

---

Progressives have a knack for glorifying chaos, spinning destruction as some heroic step toward toppling a “corrupt system.” That’s why the left’s giddy reaction to a healthcare executive being shot in the back, allegedly by a 26-year-old coward, was predictable.

Of course, the Internet’s dark alleys often celebrate cold-blooded murder. What’s truly chilling, though, is watching American lawmakers twist Luigi Mangione’s suspected actions into a platform to demonize “profits” and nudge the U.S. closer to a full-blown federal takeover of the healthcare sector.

For instance, Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts and progressive queen bee, told the Huffington Post: “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system.”

A “warning”? That sounds an awful lot like a thinly veiled threat — perhaps a nod to expect more public assassinations?

Warren tried to clarify but only managed to fumble into justification: “Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far. This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they… start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.”

Basically, violence is bad, but hey, the guy had a point.

Not to be outdone, Bernie Sanders lamented that “you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”

Notice how the left’s knee-jerk reaction is always to blame capitalism. They won’t rest until a Cuba-style infrastructure lands on America’s shores.

This morally bankrupt rhetoric underscores yet another stark difference between the left and the right on political violence. Frustration with an insurance provider, no matter how valid, can never excuse mowing someone down in the street. That’s the message we should expect from elected leaders — not the kind of equivocations that embolden lunatics to start targeting corporate executives.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that the health insurance “villains” progressives love to demonize are pawns in a much bigger game. The real culprit here is the government-created labyrinth of rules and regulations that have bloated costs, restricted access, and handed power to a few dominant players.

Remember Obamacare? That grand promise to fix everything wrong with our healthcare setup?

Fourteen years later, it’s a total disaster.

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane: Barack Obama pledged — over and over — that family premiums would drop by $2,500 a year if the “Affordable Care Act” passed. Well, the law did pass, and guess what? Premiums didn’t just fail to drop — they skyrocketed.

And who could forget this Hall-of-Fame whopper from the former president: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”

Now, The Wall Street Journal has revealed even more damning stats exposing the massive bait-and-switch Obamacare pulled on the public at large:

• Deductibles for the average plan now hover above $5,000 — double what they were a decade ago.
• Expanded Medicaid coverage? It’s a mirage. “Low reimbursement rates” from government officials mean fewer doctors accept Medicaid patients.
• And if you’re bound by a government “exchange” plan, you only have access to 40 percent of local doctors and just 21 percent of hospital physicians. Need an out-of-network doctor? That’s going to cost extra!

It gets worse.

Obamacare mandates that all insurance plans include a long list of “essential benefits” dictated by Washington — whether consumers want these add-ons or not. At the same time, insurers are prohibited from setting premiums based on health status or adjusting rates reasonably depending on a person’s age.

The results? Young, healthy individuals foot the bill for older, sicker ones.

This government-created redistribution scheme makes it impossible to find cost-effective insurance policies that protect against catastrophic events, which is the very purpose of insurance.

As the Journal bluntly put it: “If the goal were to help Americans with costly health conditions, it would have been far simpler and less expensive to boost subsidies for state high-risk pools.”

Simple and effective. And nowhere near the $2.5 trillion price tag we’re saddled with today.

But simplicity was never the point. The goal was “to turn insurers into de facto public utilities and jerry-rig a halfway house to single-payer healthcare.”

All the theatrics, the grandstanding, and the bloodlust lead to one place — a government-controlled system.

Want a glimpse of that future? Take a peek at the United Kingdom.

Guess how long the “waiting list” is to get “planned” care under their National Health Service. If you said 7.54 million people, ding-ding! You win. Let that sink in: 7.54 million folks are entitled to “free” services, but in reality, they’re buried in a massive, ever-growing backlog.

Nearly half a million Brits are waiting on something serious, like cardiovascular treatment, according to UK’s Daily Express, while 590,000 women are stuck in line for “gynecological services.” Oh, and roughly 240,000 residents have been waiting more than a year just to see a specialist. What’s the NHS solution? Aiming for an “18-week target” — yes, four months — to see a doctor. That’s what’s considered reasonable under socialized medicine.

At the same time, British health official Wes Streeting is imploring hospitals to “put patients ahead of targets” so they can cut into the bottleneck without people dying on gurneys in emergency hallways.

Imagine needing to send out that memo.

In truth, government healthcare may be “free,” but it’s useless if patients can’t use it to see a doctor or get critical treatment. Political leaders shouldn’t waste time showering the public with grandiose promises that can never be met in a world of limited resources. Instead, they should focus on expanding access to care by deregulating markets, fostering competition, and letting consumers choose what works best for them.

Obamacare did the opposite. With its mandate-frenzy approach, it prioritized red tape over real care. And we’re living with the consequences. So, if progressives are furious about the state of America’s insurance industry, maybe they should aim their outrage where it belongs — at the very law they championed.

Biden and Harris Raided Medicare to Fund Green New Deal: Premiums Are Now Set to Spike | The Gateway Pundit

Biden and Harris Raided Medicare to Fund Green New Deal: Premiums Are Now Set to Spike

When Democrats rammed through the Inflation Reduction Act during the days they controlled all of Washington, D.C., it ignited a chain reaction that led to higher Medicare costs for America’s senior citizens.

“Nearly two years after its passage, the IRA has diverted nearly $260 billion from the projected Medicare ‘savings’  to pay for special interest handouts like large tax credits for costly electric vehicles, enormous subsidies paid to big health insurer-PBM corporations, and funding health care programs for illegal immigrants,” Ron Fitzwater, Chief Executive Officer of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, wrote in an Op-Ed in the Missouri Times.

“The Biden-Harris administration is not protecting Medicare; they’re stealing from it,” he wrote.

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According to Politico, the chain reaction began when the act shifted the burden of paying for prescription medicine from seniors to insurance companies.

Then came what could have been predicted: Insurance companies hiked their premiums for 2025.

Fitwater, in his Op-Ed, said increases were coming in at 179 percent.

But since that was going to hit right before the election, there was one more step – a federal bailout that has the taxpayer-funded federal treasury taking the hit for what the IRA caused.

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“It’s using the federal treasury for political advantage,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.

“This is a way for the executive branch to implement a policy which has very positive political ramifications for them, but with very sketchy legal standing,” he said.

Fitzwater estimates that “All told, that puts the entire IRA raid on Medicare at well over $330 billion.”

https://twitter.com/SteveForbesCEO/status/1824084465393516790

The IRA’s tinkering with Medicare also has impacted drug companies. A Wall Street Journal editorial explained the process.

“The IRA let Medicare ‘negotiate’ prices for 10 to 20 drugs a year and a total of 60 by 2029. Negotiate is a euphemism for extortion: Drug makers that don’t participate or reject the government’s price face a daily excise tax that starts at 186% and climbs to 1,900% of a drug’s daily revenue,” the editorial began.

“The law also requires manufacturers to pay the government rebates on medicines sold to Medicare if they raise prices more than the rate of inflation, and puts them on the hook for more of the entitlement’s Part D costs. Democrats used the resulting estimated ‘savings’ of some $160 billion to pay for the green new deal,” the editorial said.

“But subsidized solar panels won’t help if you get sick. The inevitable, albeit invisible, result of Democrats’ raid on pharmaceutical companies will be fewer new medicines,” the WSJ editorial explained.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Biden and Harris Raided Medicare to Fund Green New Deal: Premiums Are Now Set to Spike appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.