What began as a routine Senate hearing on a narrow set of tax credits erupted into a full-scale confrontation when Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) launched a sweeping indictment of the Affordable Care Act. The freshman senator, drawing on his background as a small business owner, accused Democrats of “performative outrage” and presiding over what he called a system of “managed failure” that has enriched insurance corporations while leaving working Americans with higher costs and broken promises.
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Moreno anchored his critique in one of the ACA’s most famous claims: that families would see their premiums drop by $2,500 a year. Questioning a witness, he asked who made the promise. When the answer—President Barack Obama—was confirmed, Moreno bluntly asked whether it had been a lie. The witness replied yes, stating it would be nearly impossible to find anyone in the individual market who had experienced such savings over the past decade. Moreno used the exchange to argue that current Democratic efforts focus only on preserving narrow subsidies instead of fixing a system that has failed most Americans.
Turning to what he called the real winners of Obamacare, Moreno highlighted the explosive growth of major insurers. He pointed to UnitedHealthcare, noting that its stock price rose from about $115 in 2015 to more than $600 last year, transforming it into a nearly $600 billion company—roughly twelve times the size of Ford Motor Company. Moreno argued that no policy in modern history has transferred more wealth to insurance companies while premiums for union workers and small businesses continued to rise.
The senator also tied healthcare costs to illegal immigration, arguing that while undocumented migrants are not eligible for Medicare or ACA plans, they still consume billions in emergency medical services. Those costs, he said, are inevitably passed on to insured Americans through higher premiums. The witness agreed, stating that treating millions of non-citizens results in “billions and billions of dollars” that are ultimately charged to everyone else.
In closing, Moreno outlined reforms he said would actually lower costs: price transparency for medical procedures, association health plans for small businesses, pharmacy benefit manager reform, tort reform, and expanded Health Savings Accounts. Noting that most Democrats had left the room, he dismissed the hearing’s legislation as political theater designed to preserve a talking point rather than solve problems. “It’s disgusting what happens in this town,” Moreno said, arguing that Washington has chosen to manage failure instead of fixing it—because failure, in his view, has become too profitable.[/read]