Behind the ObamaCare Boom – WSJ

Sweetened subsidies are attracting more takers, at taxpayer expense.

By The Editorial Board | Jan. 28, 2024 5:30 pm ET

Excerpts:

Government entitlements and subsidies invariably cost more than politicians advertise. Take the ObamaCare premium tax credits, which Democrats during the pandemic turned into a de facto public option for health insurance.

President Biden took a victory lap last week after the Health and Human Services Department reported that a record 21.3 million Americans had signed up for coverage on the ObamaCare exchanges. That’s nearly five million more than last year and nearly double as many as in 2020. “It’s no accident,” the President tooted. He’s right, but not in a good way.

The March 2021 American Rescue Plan Act sweetened the premium tax credits to make insurance on the exchanges free or nearly free for many middle-class Americans for two years. The Inflation Reduction Act extended the bigger subsidies through 2025, while his Administration rewrote ObamaCare rules to enable more families to qualify.

Because the enhanced subsidies make the plans cheaper than employer coverage, many more Americans are signing up on the ObamaCare exchanges. The pandemic Medicaid expansion also ended last spring, enabling states to remove people who no longer qualify. HHS says many who left Medicaid signed up for ObamaCare plans.

Recall that Democrats claimed that extending the sweetened subsidies for three years would cost a mere $64 billion. But a conservative back-of-the-envelope calculation based on enrollment and the average tax credit indicates that the subsidy boost this year alone will cost some $70 billion—meaning it could end up costing three times what the politicians claimed.

When the government creates an open-ended subsidy, more people than predicted always show up to the buffet. The pandemic Medicaid expansion cost more than six times the original $50 billion estimate. The Covid-era Employee Retention Credit was initially estimated to cost $55 billion, but the final price tag may be upward of $470 billion as tens of thousands of businesses continue to claim it.

The truth is that you can’t trust Congress’s budget estimates. The bipartisan tax deal now moving through the House to boost the child tax credit and renew some business tax breaks is estimated to cost $78 billion. The smart money will take the over.

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And on we go… more people dependent on government programs, more price distortion in private markets, ongoing ‘projected cost’ blowouts, ballooning federal budget deficits.

Washington Democrats (and Republicans) have America on track for credit market chaos.

There is currently one plan (and only one plan) on the table with the power to: 1) Revive free-market efficiencies and economic viability in the U.S. healthcare system; 2) Restore order and stability to credit markets, and; 3) Get America back on track for federal budget surpluses, sound money, and financial security for millions of hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

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Washington-based Democrats and Republicans have a long-standing record of growing government, creating greater dependence on government among the citizenry, dreaming up new spending programs riddled with inefficiencies, waste and outright fraud. 

Washington political policy initiatives over the past two decades have impoverished millions of Americans, created record Household Debt burdens, stymied economic growth, and generated soaring, nightmarish federal budget deficits, massive enough to now constitute a national security issue.

Now imagine a future America where millions of U.S. citizens were to be granted equal access to direct liquidity extensions to those which were so generously provided to major Wall Street financial institutions during the great financial crisis (2007-2010) and the Covid economic crisis (2020-2022), including: Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America, State Street Corp, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Wachovia, Lehman Brothers, Wells Fargo, Bear Stearns) and major foreign financial institutions (Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays, Credit Suisse. Dexia, BNP Paribas).

Imagine a future America where millions of hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens have eliminated massive sums of mortgage debt, paid off auto loans and installment debt, paid off student loans (or were fully reimbursed for previously paid off student loans), and are able to improve their current quality of life and save considerable sums of money toward future plans and dreams. 

Imagine a future America where millions of ‘below-the-poverty-line’ families did not need ongoing government support to cover life’s basic necessities (food, housing, and primary health care expenditures). 

Imagine a future where families did not need two incomes, or additional government assistance to barely cover family-specific expenses like child-care, private education, and federal, state, and local tax burdens.

And now visualize a future America where government spending has dropped precipitously, tax revenues have risen dramatically (without raising taxes), federal (and state) budget surpluses have become an ongoing reality. 

America’s economy – surging into a new, long-term, revitalized, free market growth cycle.

And citizen-centered healthcare largely replacing the current big government / big corporation market-dominating partnerships.

That future is here.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – loaded up and ready to launch.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

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“It is true that the virtues which are less esteemed and practiced now – independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks, the readiness to back one’s own conviction against a majority, and the willingness to voluntary cooperation with one’s neighbors – are essentially those on which the of an individualist society rests. Collectivism has nothing to put in their place, and in so far as it already has destroyed then it has left a void filled by nothing but the demand for obedience and the compulsion of the individual to what is collectively decided to be good.”   – Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom

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The Leviticus 25 Plan re-establishes family and societal virtues which have been eroded through government encroachment and socialist-driven central planning – in America and elsewhere around the world.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – grants direct liquidity access to American families – the very same access to liquidity which was provided to the likes of Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Deutsch Bank, UBS AG, Royal Bank of Scotland, Plc, State Street, Barclays, and many, many others.

The primary goal of The Plan is debt elimination and the restoration of financial health and economic liberty for American families.

Imagine a family of four paying off their mortgage, car loans, credit card debt – and having additional on-hand liquidity for direct allocation for routine medical expenses.

The financial security benefits of all qualifying American families would be incalculable:

* Financial stress relief – quality of life improvements – general living conditions, nutrition.

* Working mothers desiring to spend more time with their children would be able scale back their outside employment hours or become full-time stay-at-home mothers.

* Financial self-reliance at family level – reduced dependence on social welfare and charity programs.

* Re-establishment of normal, positive incentives for work, enterprise, innovation, achievements.

* Improved credit status for working Americans

* Improved access to primary health care

* Improved employment opportunities.

* Significant potential for crime reduction.

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There is no government-directed economic strategy that can provide even a fraction of these types of benefits, direct to America’s citizens.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

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America is long overdue for a comprehensive ‘quality of life’ upgrade – one that starts with restoring economic liberty and securing financial health for families all across our land. A primary benefit of this plan must be to ‘de-stress’ American families and allow parents more quality time with their children, restored financial security, and a more manageable pace of life.

America needs a tour de force plan with the creative power to generate massive new tax revenue flows, reduce government expenditures, and eliminate government deficits – a plan that will set America, and the U.S. Dollar, on a path of long-term financial stability.

America’s upgrade must relight the fires of free market, citizen-driven economics and activate a citizen-centered health care system.

This plan must have the raw power to eliminate massive tracts of debt across all sectors of the economy, thereby allowing Federal Reserve ‘rate normalization’ measures, long-term net interest margin benefits for banks, insurers, pension funds.

There is one plan in America with the creative power to deliver these benefits.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

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THE NATION’S UNSUSTAINABLE FISCAL PATH – Government Accountability Office

Excerpt:

The federal government faces an unsustainable fiscal future. In February 2025, we released our annual report on the nation’s fiscal health, highlighting both short-term and long-term risks. 

Federal debt held by the public (that is, the total amount of money that the federal government owes to its investors) will continue to grow faster than the economy, which is unsustainable.

Federal debt held by the public—past, present, and future

Historically, debt has decreased during peacetime and economic expansions. But this pattern has changed in recent decades. Unless current revenue and spending policies change, by 2027 debt will reach its historical high of 106 percent of GDP, according to our simulation. If unaddressed, it will grow more than twice as fast as the economy and reach 200 percent of GDP by 2047.

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The U.S. Congress’ latest response to resolving the fiscal crisis:

A little or a lot? Conflicting targets for cuts leave budget in limbo

The House of Representatives this week narrowly approved a budget resolution after the Senate did so previously.

By Ben Whedon  |  JusttheNews  |  Apr 11, 2025

While President Donald Trump has suggested he may sign a balanced budget plan during his term, competing estimates and promises on cuts from interested parties appear to signal the government could either come close to achieving its goal or largely fail to make meaningful cuts, with little room for a moderate option.

The House of Representatives this week narrowly approved a budget resolution after the Senate did so previously. Both chambers committed to the basic framework of “one big, beautiful bill” favored by Trump to address both his tax cuts and his border proposals in the same legislation. The reconciliation process, however, will see competing parties quibble over the depth of cuts and what to target.

The Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal government would run a $1.9 trillion budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2025 and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had previously vowed to cut $2 trillion in spending to balance the budget. But Musk’s projections have dwindled of late and budget hawks in the House aim to hold Speaker Mike Johnson to his promises of major cuts, setting up a potential leadership change should he fail.

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The most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world is loaded up and ready to launch – and solve America’s debt crisis, once and for all.

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“It’s Main Street’s Turn To Restore The American Dream” – US Treasury Secretary Warns Wall Street

ZeroHedge, Apr 09, 2025 | Via American Greatness, – Excerpts:

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent laid out President Trump’s financial policy priorities for the American Bankers Association (ABA) on Wednesday, saying that Main Street America will now take priority.

Bessent speaking at the ABA’s Washington Summit, said, “For too long, financial policy has served large financial institutions at the expense of smaller ones— no more.”

The Treasury Secretary stated that, “It’s Main Street’s turn to hire workers, it’s Main Street’s turn to drive investment and it’s Main Street’s turn to restore the American dream.”

Bessent announced the Trump administration’s shift to focusing on helping Main Street businesses and consumers thrive by giving all institutions a chance to succeed, adding, “For the last four decades, basically since I began my career in Wall Street, Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before, and it can continue to grow and do well.”

Addressing fears of a looming recession, Bessent defended Trump’s agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and trade rebalancing and noting that, 

“We want to de-leverage the government sector, re-leverage the private sector …. we can’t do it all at once, or that will cause a recession.”

Bessent added, 

“What will keep us from having a recession is making sure that the tax bill doesn’t expire, adding back 100% depreciation and then adding some of President Trump’s agenda — no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.”

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There is one more step that America needs to take to “re-leverage” the debt-logged private sector and activate the powerful reset that millions of American families and small businesses need – a massive, public and private sector debt elimination plan.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

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The U.S. Federal Reserve pays banks on the required and excess reserves they hold on deposit. The Fed is currently holding $3.262 trillion in the cash reserves.

And it is currently paying 4.40% in interest on that $3.261 trillion…

The current total annual interest payments to banks, therefore, come in at a cool $81.525 billion. And, it would be safe to assume that many or all of the ‘Systemically Important Banks’ listed below (foreign and domestic) are partakers of those generous Fed IOER payments:

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Fed IOER payments were initiated in October 2008, “primarily to maintain control over the federal funds rate and facilitate credit market interventions during the financial crisis.”

This monetary tool does nothing, however, to reduce the soaring annual Federal budget deficits, nor does it do anything to insulate hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens from the catastrophic effects of future ‘financial crises’ – which are all but inevitable with with America’s snowballing public and private debt burdens.

The Leviticus 25 Plan corrects these imbalances – generating federal budget surpluses and financial security for millions of American families.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

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US Treasury Could Default As Soon As August, CBO Warns

ZeroHedge, Mar 26, 2025 – Excerpt:

Earlier this week we pointed out the striking plunge in the Treasury’s cash balance which had averaged around $800 billion for the past 18 months, and which plunged by $480 billion in the past month.

Treasury cash down $480 billion in the past month. pic.twitter.com/uV4GDNGheO

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 25, 2025

Regular readers are aware of the reason for this plunge: ever since the US hit the debt ceiling in the last days of the Biden administration, the US Treasury has been unable to issue new debt and so has been forced to draw down its cash to fund day to day operations.

Obviously, there is a limit to how much longer this can continue: after all, once the cash balance hits 0, the Treasury will have to start prioritizing payments, and eventually, it may even have to delay payments of interest or repayments of principal… better known as default.

Which brings us to the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office published this morning which warned that the federal government could run out of enough money to pay all of its bills on time as soon as August if lawmakers fail to raise or suspend the debt limit, to wit:

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if the debt limit remains unchanged, the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025. The projected exhaustion date is uncertain because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from CBO’s projections. (source)

On Monday, the Bipartisan Policy Center said that according to public data the Treasury will be forced to start defaulting on obligations sometime between mid-July and early October.

The CBO also cautioned that if the government’s borrowing needs are “significantly greater than CBO projects, the Treasury’s resources could be exhausted in late May or sometime in June, before tax payments due in mid-June are received or before additional extraordinary measures become available on June 30.”

The date is uncertain because of the unpredictable nature of tax receipts, and Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said earlier this month that it could come as early as mid-May.

Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy at Veda Partners, wrote in a Monday note to clients that an earlier “x date” would be beneficial to House Republicans and those rooting for the Trump tax plan to be initiated in a single piece of legislation as soon as possible.

The Treasury Department has been using special accounting maneuvers since Jan. 21 to avoid breaching the $36.1 trillion debt ceiling, which kicked in at the start of the year. But the department has yet to offer specific guidance on when those measures will be exhausted.

Full article: https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/cbo-warns-us-treasury-could-default-soon-august

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It is time to enact a massive debt-elimination budget clean-up operation. And there is one comprehensive plan with the raw power to make it happen.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$60,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2026 (26221 downloads )

The U.S. economy does not need Fed rate cuts – and no one should be pressuring the Fed to ease in our current economic situation – when there is a monumentally better, and more powerful economic acceleration plan loaded up and ready to launch.

What the U.S. needs more than anything is massive public and private debt elimination. The immediate and long-term benefits of a systematic, massive debt elimination plan would dwarf, by orders of magnitude, the limited benefits of any rate-lowering cycle the Fed could ever set in motion.

A rate cutting cycle would have little, if any effect on reducing the $35.5 trillion national debt or the projected $2.0 trillion annual deficits, or the $3.1 trillion of State and Local debt, or the current $18.04 trillion of Household Debt in the U.S..

A rate cutting cycle would do nothing to shrink entitlement spending and reduce the government’s ever-growing footprint across America’s private sector landscape.  It would do nothing to restore real financial security and rekindle the spirit of self-reliance for America’s hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens.

It would do nothing to spur a legitimate long-term economic growth cycle, stabilize the credit markets, and strengthen the U.S. Dollar.

A rate cutting cycle at this time would merely be an open door for additional debt accumulation and eventually lead into another rate-tightening phase. And it would penalize savers.

The Leviticus 25 Plan’s massive debt elimination plan, on the other hand, would immediately:  1) Generate a series of annual Federal budget surpluses, along with State and Local government surpluses;  2) Reduce fraud and waste across many of government’s social insurance sectors;  3) Restore real financial security for millions of American families, rekindle the spirit of self-reliance, and scale back out-of-control entitlement spending;  4) And generate a long-term economic growth cycle that would benefit all Americans, and especially the 33.2 million small businesses across the U.S..

Moreover, it is a plan that will pay for itself entirely over a 10-15 year period.

The Leviticus 25 Plan would allow the Fed to adjust interest rates a function as free market dynamics and price discovery dictated, rather than depending upon complex timing models amid political pressures.

Higher rates would allow savers to earn millions of dollars in additional interest. It would help curb interests in ‘fast money’ and speculation within the economy, and it would decrease the likelihood of new ‘bubbles’ popping up in financial markets.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – loaded up and ready to launch.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

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The Federal Debt currently stands at $36.608 trillion, with continuing deficits hitting new records. Household Debt has reached $18.04 trillion. State and Local debt has breached the $2.122 trillion level.

America is drowning in debt.

The good news – there is a powerhouse solution to this mess: The Leviticus 25 Plan.

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US deficit sets record with $1.1 trillion in first five months of fiscal year 2025

The new numbers, released Wednesday, showed the deficit between October 2024, and February 2025. The deficit for February alone was $307 billion.

By Misty Severi | JustTheNews.com | Published: March 12, 2025

The United States’ deficit increased by a record-breaking $1.1 trillion during the first five months of the current fiscal year, new data from the Treasury Department showed.

The new numbers, released Wednesday, showed the deficit between October 2024 and February 2025. The unadjusted increase saw a surge of $1.147 trillion, while the deficit for the same period in fiscal year 2024 was $828 billion. The deficit for February alone was $307 billion. 

The deficit is largely driven by spending on interest, military programs, public benefits and security, according to the financial news outlet Barron’s. The largest spending costs came from interest paid on the public debt and higher tax credits.

A Treasury department spokesperson told CNBC that there has been limited impact from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is attempting to reduce wasteful government spending. But the department’s operations have only been active for one month. 

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Meanwhile… Household Debt Hits $18.04 Trillion; Auto and Credit Card Delinquency Transition Rates Remain Elevated – NY Fed:

Total household debt increased by $93 billion to reach $18.04 trillion in the fourth quarter, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Aggregate delinquency rates ticked up 0.1 percentage point (ppt) from the previous quarter to 3.6 percent of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Mortgage balances rose by $11 billion to stand at $12.61 trillion at the end of December. Transition into serious delinquency, defined as 90 or more days past due, remained stable for mortgages, but edged up for auto loans, credit cards, and HELOC balances. Auto loan balances saw an $11 billion increase to $1.66 trillion in the fourth quarter, while credit card balances increased by $45 billion from the previous quarter to reach $1.21 trillion at the end of December.

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The Leviticus 25 plan is the one and only economically viable, politically feasible plan currently ‘on the table’ to reverse America’s colossal (and growing) debt dilemma – and get the U.S. back on solid financial ground.

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