It’s official: healthcare is about to get much more expensive for everyone
ALSO INSIDE: $133 million in medical debt bought and wiped away by Somos Votantes
Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky.
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Since day one of Trump’s political career, people have desperately attempted to normalize his absurd abuses of power and blatant corruption – and 10 years later, much of corporate media remains a victim of their own attempts to return to a sense of normalcy.
It’s time to stop sane-washing the insanity.
What Happened
After spending nearly the whole year avoiding negotiations on cost-saving healthcare laws, Republicans failed to reach a compromise on how to use tax dollars to save taxpayers money at the doctor’s office.
The healthcare laws in question expire at the end of the year. Their sunset will trigger a steep increase in healthcare premium costs in every state and will impact people in every income bracket, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. While the 93 million Americans who get healthcare through the Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicare will see the biggest spike in costs, the 165 million people who rely on their employer for healthcare will also see premiums rise by at least 7 percent, or about $500 per household annually.
“Now millions of Americans are left with the impossible decision of choosing between paying for health insurance or paying their rent,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told COURIER. “Republicans voted to make health care more expensive. They’ve all fallen in line behind Donald Trump and left American families in the dirt. It is truly shameful.”
Extending Affordable Care Act tax credits has been at the forefront of Congress since January. Rather than address the looming price hikes, congressional Republicans instead forced a 43-day federal government shutdown in order to avoid a debate on an extension of the credits. Senate Democrats eventually agreed to end the shutdown in an exchange for a vote to extend them, but then failed to secure enough votes to actually pass the bill.
A group of Senate Republicans did propose a plan of their own to offset healthcare costs, but could not even gain enough support within their own caucus to bring it to a vote. As the party in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republicans are expected to receive the lion’s share of blame for next year’s rise in healthcare costs.
“It’s too complicated and too difficult to get done in the limited time that we have left,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the Associated Press. While Tillis supported the extension in recent weeks, a key focus of his career has been repealing the ACA and removing government involvement from the healthcare industry entirely.
“Today was our last chance in Congress to save the Affordable Care Act subsidies that help people afford care before they expire at the end of the year,” said Warren. “And what should Republicans do? They voted no. They voted to increase health care costs across the board.
Attempts to Sanewash
Congress gridlocked as Affordable Care Act subsides set to expire, driving up health care costs
Senate Republicans’ ‘Health Care Freedom for Patients Act’ fails to garner necessary votes
Far-Right Spin
Judges order all discovery evidence in Epstein investigation to be made public
Federal judges from multiple jurisdictions this week approved the US Justice Department’s requests to not only unseal transcripts from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, but also include the release of hundreds of thousands of documents used during the case’s discovery phase.
The rulings were a direct response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the government to make public all materials related to its investigations into Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislane Maxwell, with exceptions for information that could be damaging to their victims. The order adds an additional layer of accountability to the congressional mandate that the Epstein Files be made public, as the courts will now independently determine if the DOJ adequately follows through with the ruling.
‘The Act unambiguously applies to the discovery in this case,” Judge Paula Engelmayer wrote in her decision. “It governs ‘all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of [DOJ], including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices’ related to Maxwell, Epstein, and other enumerated subjects … That broad formulation embraces the voluminous discovery subject to the Protective Order in this case.”
The “voluminous discovery” includes hundreds of thousands of records the government used in its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein in 2006 and 2019, plus evidence presented in the 2020 conviction of Maxwell. While the release of these documents is now required by law, the rulings from three different courts lay out specifics regarding what should be released and what personal information should be redacted. Between the Act and the rulings, the DOJ is left with little wiggle room regarding what it releases to the public.
“The ‘plain language’ of the Epstein Files Transparency Act unequivocally intends to make public Epstein grand jury materials and discovery materials,” Judge Richard Berman wrote in his ruling. “In fact, the Act states that the Epstein files material must be made public ‘[n]ot later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.”
All three judges expedited their decisions to give the DOJ enough time to prepare the Epstein Files by their required release date of Dec. 19.
It’s easy for individual members of Congress to get overlooked by national outlets as they quietly skate to reelection again, and again, and again. The following is an overview of different congressional representatives you may not have heard of, with fun facts about their origin stories they’ve tried to keep out of the public narrative.
Since taking office in 1999, Sen. Crapo has:
Seen his net worth increase from $1.4 million to $3.8 million
Sponsored 615 bills
Authored 10 bills that have been signed into law
Had his license suspended for a year in 2013 for driving under the influence
Initially said January 6 rioters should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” but later supported their pardons and called them “political prisoners”
Hasn’t held a public town hall since 2022, but does host private, Republican-only forums regularly
Fun Facts
Sen. Crapo has established himself in Congress as a leader in fiscal policy and, in 2025, was made chair of the powerful Finance Committee. His use of campaign funds, however, paints a much more fiscally irresponsible picture.
While Crapo raises an impressive amount of money for a Republican Senator in a red state, his stewardship over his supporters’ money is lackluster at best. His campaign almost never files its finance reports accurately or on time, resulting in some serious accounting mishaps. In 2008, for example, Crapo was completely oblivious that a staffer had taken out a $250,000 loan that was never repaid.
The political action committees (PACs) bankrolling Crapo aren’t much better. In 2018, an ethics complaint was lodged against Crapo over his Freedom Fund PAC’s use of campaign funds. At the time, his wife had received about $200,000 in campaign funds. She would receive smaller amounts before an election, presumably to avoid suspicion, then larger lump sums shortly after the results were in.
Despite this, Crapo has been given one of the most coveted chair positions in the Senate, and has already used it to aid Trump in his quest to cripple the US economy. In late February, he killed Democratic Sen. Chris Coons’ STABLE Trade Policy Act, which would have required congressional approval on any tariffs.
Progressives call for end of ‘old guard’ in media and politics
Grassroots organizers and independent media figures on Thursday came together to discuss failures made by political institutions and traditional media outlets in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States, and how people are coming together to find solutions without them.
The event, hosted by COURIER in Washington, DC, focused on movement builders and independent journalists who have filled the void left by traditional institutions in providing mutual aid and combating misinformation to their communities. Melissa Morales, founder of Somos Votantes, pointed to the action her organization had taken to relieve Nevadans burdened with medical debt when their government had failed to do so.
“This past month, Somos bought up and forgave $133 million in medical debt in the state of Nevada. People got a letter in the mail Thanksgiving week that notified them that their medical debt had been erased,” said Morales. “Last state legislative session, there was a medical debt bill that got brought to the state legislature, and it passed! And the governor vetoed it. These are the leaders right now, and these are the people that we should be holding accountable.”
Despite the massive return on investment — wiping out $133 million in medical debt for pennies on the dollar — the life-changing endeavor received little to no coverage in local or national media. Content creators and independent outlets like COURIER’s The Nevadan, however, filled people’s feeds on various social platforms with a breakdown of whose debt would be relieved and who was responsible.
Jack Cocchiarella, a prominent political commentator on YouTube, said the democratization of information through social media has gone a long way to restore trust — not in institutions, but in the people who provide access to accurate and relevant information.
“We have an ability to get rid of the gatekeepers. Audiences will always want to interact with their people, I think, more so than institutions,” said Cocchiarella. “Not that I want to give any credit at this moment, but Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, built out a media apparatus around what it meant to be Dave Portnoy. Bill Simmons did this with The Ringer. You have people who are the essence of what their their media company is. And so in that way, the individual can build something bigger.”
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