The Death Spiral Republicans Just Voted for Is Coming for Their Own Voters
Congress just killed ACA subsidies. The Guardian calls it a “death spiral.” I call it suicide by spreadsheet—and the people pulling the trigger are about to shoot themselves.
Premium costs will more than double. From $888 to $1,904. That’s not a typo. That’s the math of cruelty when you let subsidies expire because owning the libs matters more than keeping your constituents alive.
Here’s the part that would be hilarious if it wasn’t homicidal: More than half of ACA enrollees live in GOP districts. Farmers. Ranchers. Small business owners. The exact people who voted for representatives who just voted to bankrupt them.
Know what happens when healthy people can’t afford premiums? They drop coverage. Know who stays? The sick. The desperate. The ones with no choice. Insurance pools collapse. Premiums skyrocket further. More people drop out. That’s your death spiral.
But wait, it gets better.
Rural hospitals—already hanging by a thread—are about to drown in uncompensated care. When farmers can’t pay for treatment, hospitals eat the cost. When hospitals can’t eat anymore, they close. When they close, the nearest ER becomes three hours away.
Your chest pain at 2 AM just became a death sentence because the hospital that could have saved you shuttered six months ago.
And here’s the kicker: When rural hospitals collapse under unpaid bills, they raise prices on everyone else. Including people with employer insurance. Including the suburban voters who think this doesn’t touch them.
The Guardian buried this detail, but I won’t: Those same rural hospitals serve the districts whose representatives just voted against extending subsidies. They literally voted to kill their own hospitals.
I survived brain cancer at 21. Know what almost killed me after? The bills. But at least I lived in Brooklyn where hospitals existed. These rural voters just guaranteed their cancer diagnosis comes with a side of bankruptcy AND a three-hour ambulance ride.
The death spiral isn’t coming. It’s here. And the people who lit the fuse are about to learn that political spite doesn’t cure heart attacks.
Your move, rural America. Your representatives just bet your life that you hate Obama more than you love breathing.
Are you new here? My condolences and my thanks. Follow along and stay loud with the rest of us. More voices means more pressure on a system that counts on silence.
#WeThePatients #DeathSpiral #RuralHealthcare
SOURCE ➡️ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/14/aca-obamacare-expires